1987/88

Forget the eagle; we had elephants in the '80's.

Edited by Bubbs (26 Mar 2011 8.54am)

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'Better stop dreaming of the quiet life 'cos it's the one we'll never know'

7.5.88

Palace 2 Man City 0

One of those painful days to be a palace fan. Needed to win and hope Champions Millwall at home would stop Blackburn from winning to get in the play offs. Problem was they'd won the league the week before and the players celebrated without caring they still had one game to play. Result? A 4-1 defeat. Coppell commented: "In racing there would've been a stewards enquiry, and alcoholic poisining may have had something to do with it."

Just to rub salt in the wounds, just as Thomas made it 2-0, a spurious rumour swept round Selhurst that Millwall had comeback to level at 3-3, alledgedly off BBC radio, leading Coppell to say: "You can quote me on this - there is some right cruel b****** on Radio 2".

Pic 1: 1st half and City on the attack. By the post is Jim Cannon in his very last appearance for Palace. Shame he didn't know it was really.

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'Better stop dreaming of the quiet life 'cos it's the one we'll never know'

17.12.88 Palace 0 Leeds 0

Recognise the ex Palace idol for Leeds?
Vince Hilaire! Remember him returning a few times with Pompey too and sent off once.

Also pictured is Alex Dyer, and Geoff Thomas - due to injury - playing his last home game of that season in front of a 9,000 crowd. His next home appearance was 8 months later aginst Man Utd in front of 22,000!

Edited by Bubbs (26 Mar 2011 8.56am)

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'Better stop dreaming of the quiet life 'cos it's the one we'll never know'

24.9.88 Portsmouth 1 Palace 1 Talking of fences!

Wright equalises and the players celebrate at Fratton Park. I remember this game for the utter frustration it caused: we were having a stuttering start that season - playing well but still to have picked up our first victory and languishing 5th from bottom. We were just not getting the rub of the green, and this game typified this. We absolutely annihilated them but found ourselves a goal down early on until Wright scored in 67th minute.

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'Better stop dreaming of the quiet life 'cos it's the one we'll never know'

4.3.89 Palace 2 Bournemoth 3

Looking back at promotion that year and the unbelievable success of the next 2 seasons beyond all our wildest dreams, I always hold this game as the turning point that began that amazing period.

We knew we were one of the best teams in the league, yet for one reason or another, come March we were languishing in 12th place in Division 2. Frustration didn't quite cover it. Down came Bournemouth, who at the time were in the top 6. Our midfield partnership of Thomas and Pennyfather were out injured for virtually the rest of the season, and we had to make do with Pardew, and an unknown making his first start for Palace: Dave Madden

Shockingly, we found ourselves 3-0 down, and the mood in the crowd was utter despondency. We felt the promotion dream was over yet again, and that the team we felt were going to deliver something special at Palace were not as good as we had hoped.

To compound our collective frustraion and depression, Wright and Bright - both unmarked in front of goal and going for a header to get a goal back - clashed heads with almost comic timing and both fell to the ground in agony (pic 3). Could things get any worse? But that was it for me! That was the moment everything turned round.

We then went on an onslaught, grabbing 2 goals and so very nearly getting a third (pic 4). Dave Madden, in 90 minutes, had shown us that here was the hope we had been waiting for. From cynical murmurs from the crowd - 'who's this old fashioned free transfer from Reading?' - to a real feeling that he was the missing piece in the jigsaw, and so it proved.

We then went on a run of 11 wins out of 14, just 1 point away from hauling back Man City for an automatic place, this after trailing 17 points behind in mid-March!

Pic 1 - Bournemouth free kick. Palace players (from l to r): Burke, O'Reilly, Bright, Pemberton (obscured), Hopkins, Pardew, MADDEN, McGoldrick, Barber

Edited by Bubbs (26 Mar 2011 9.04am)

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'Better stop dreaming of the quiet life 'cos it's the one we'll never know'

Pic 3 - The Bright/Wright head clash tragedy! Bright here writhes in agony. I think by this stage Wright had groggily - and embarrassedly - staggered away from the scene.

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'Better stop dreaming of the quiet life 'cos it's the one we'll never know'