He might well have meant that but he didn't say it. My reply was absolutely correct based on what he actually said. His response to me, in light of what he had said, was obnoxious.

You are quite right re: the above and as you imply, the 80s were an extremely dark decade (at least until the last couple of years post the arrival of Coppell). In truth, most the Team of the Eighties never quite fulfilled their potential and those who did mainly fulfilled it elsewhere, often at Arsenal (Sansom, Nicholas). Murphy was an elegant player with, at his best, a lovely touch about his passing but he lacked a step of pace. Gilbert was the definition of good, but not ever quite great. He looked to have the world at his feet at nineteen, but never quite matured into what his early promise suggested he could become. The same is more or less true of Hilaire. If anyone prevented the club from slipping back after relegation from the PL, it was Jim Cannon, perhaps the least overhyped member of that team but who the one who never, ever did less than it said on the tin and is an absolute legend as a result.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

Personally I just genuinely hope and pray once, just once (or more, that'd be nice) we win something of note.

As nice as it is that this could be labelled as our "golden era" there is something a bit depressing that finishing outside the top half of the table is construed as halcyon days.

I couldn't agree more. The truth is, we desperately do need to win something and it's high time we did. Plenty of other clubs at what you could loosely call our level aren't habitual winners but have lifted a trophy at least once; Southampton, Ipswich, Wigan, and Coventry's FA Cup wins all spring immediately to mind.

The real pity is that we should have crossed that bridge; in both our FA Cup finals we were only ten to fifteen minutes away from lifting the trophy; particularly in our most recent final Pardew's stupidity more or less threw the opportunity away. When the manager should have been battening down the hatches and barking instructions to get behind the ball, the moron was dancing a jig on the touchline, so far up his own arse that reality ceased to matter.

I think this is a golden era regardless of whether we win something or not simply because we've never have, or have really even come close to, such a sustained period in the top flight. But that doesn't mitigate the fact that winning a trophy would take us up to an even better level.

Vieira needs to, and I'm sure he will throw the kitchen sink at the FA Cup. While it's likely true that if we beat Everon, we'll have a mountain to climb to win the trophy given the other three likely semi-finalists, in one hundred and eighty isolated minutes of football, you never know. And, looking at how Leicester have pushed on since winning the league and then the Cup in recent years, the exposure (not least through European football) would take us to a level we've never reached before.

By the way, I believe I am right in thinking we still have at least an outside chance of European football next season via our league position?

As I understand it, the top four make the Champions League. Likely Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, and (for argument's sake) Arsenal.

Fifth place and the FA Cup winners make the Europa League. If the FA Cup winners are in the top four (which is probable, and if they're not it most likely means Palace have won the FA Cup if we beat Everton) then sixth place also makes the Europa League. So that's likely Man Utd and Spurs in the Europa League.

The Carabao Cup winners make the Conference League, unless they're in the top four, which Liverpool are. So seventh place makes the conference league instead. On present form, maybe West Ham.

That's European football guaranteed down to seventh place.

The flys in the ointment:

If West Ham win the Europa League, then they qualify for the Champions League automatically meaning a Europa League place would go to the team finishing eighth. At the moment, that's probably Wolves. Furthermore, in that unlikely scenario, West Ham would vacate their qualification for the Europa League by finishing in seventh place, meaning Wolves would qualify by that route and the team finishing ninth would qualify instead. That'd likely be a dogfight between Villa, Southampton, us, Leicester, and Brighton.

However, if Leicester win the Conference League they'd be out of that mix (above) as they'd qualify automatically for the following season's Europa League meaning a Conference League place would go to the team that finishes tenth in the Premiership (Again, that'd likely be a dogfight between Villa, Southampton, us, and Brighton for a second European place).

Being realistic, our chances of finishing in the top eight are minimal but we do have a decent shot at finishing ninth so, if everything falls in our favour (probably wishful thinking) there is at least a possibility of European football even without winning the FA Cup. There's a lot to play for over the next two months.

Edited by sydtheeagle (16 Mar 2022 6.20pm)

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

I'm sure you're right. I never look these things up partly because I'm too lazy but more because when it comes to Palace past, I simply prefer to rely on my memory rather than ameliorate the images with cold facts. I remember it was late in the season, I remember the header, and that's good enough for me. I stand corrected.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

You’re not doing bad then Syd considering it’s nearly 50 years ago now!! I always find it strange, or rather my wife does, that I can remember Palace stuff from 30/40 years ago, but I can’t remember what I had for dinner the day before

It's funny but even though he spent most of his career at CH, my fondest memories of Jim Cannon are in the number 3 shirt, at the very start of his career. No idea why; that's just how I remember him.

I think that defence as a whole, Kenny obviously excepted because he was on a completely different level, probably punched above its weight in the eighteen months before the Ipswich game. Cannon, Gilbert, and Doris all looked top class until then but, as you say, once they'd been worked out - which the top flight tends to do to you - they rapidly became distinctly average and none of them ever looked the same again whether playing for Palace or elsewhere. Where I do think there are similarities with Guehi and Andersson is that both Gilbert and Cannon were comfortable with the ball. When you fast forward to the next "great" Palace side, O'Reilly, Thorn, and Ninja were cut from a totally different cloth; really traditional "stoppers". They'd never make it today's game. The CH role has evolved away from them.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.