June 30 2001

Crystal Palace centenary

All the ups and the downs are recorded here, since the club was formed by the manager of the Crystal Palace exhibition way back in 1905

Venables became the new manager in season 1976/7 and Palace were promoted to Division Two after finishing third. Two seasons later, Palace won the Second Division. But it did not last very long.

Venables resigned in 1980 and Palace were relegated in 1981. New chairman, Ron Noades, arrived and after discarding four managers appointed Steve Coppell as new boss.

Coppell steadily began improving the team and made some astute signings, including Ian Wright and Mark Bright. He steered the club back into the top division via the play-offs in 1989.

The following season, the Eagles just missed out on relegation and were FA Cup runners-up. 1990/1 saw Palace finish at the highest league position of third. The ZDS Cup was won at Wembley in 1991.

But things started to go wrong and the team were relegated in 1993 - the first season of the FA Premier League.

Coppell resigned and assistant manager, Alan Smith, took over and Palace returned as champions of the new Division One. He could not stop the team getting relegated again in the first season back in the Premier League.

He was sacked and new boss Dave Bassett took the team to the play-off final. The next season Coppell returned and Palace were promoted through the play-offs. The Eagles struggled in the Premier League. Coppell stepped aside for player-manager Attillio Lombardo but were eventually relegated.

The 1998/9 season saw Mark Goldberg as new chairman and Venables returning as manager. Expensive signings, funded by Goldberg, did not perform on the pitch. Goldberg mismanaged the club to the point that the club could not afford to pay Venables and any of the players.

The club began to lose money rapidly to the point that they had to go into administration and face expulsion from the Football League. Millions of pounds worth of players were sold and the team were rapidly heading for relegation.

Coppell returned for a third spell and with a very young squad, did an outstanding job and saved relegation.

After nearly folding, the club was saved by businessman Simon Jordan (pictured right), buying the club for £10m. Shortly before the beginning of the next season, Coppell left the club, saying he was unable to work with the chairman.

The replacement was another former manager, Alan Smith. Despite a good cup run, where the team got to the semis of the league cup, it was a disasterous season. With only a few games of the season left, Palace were on the fringes of getting relegated to the third English division for the first time since 1977.

Assistant boss Steve Kember stepped in as caretaker and managed to save Palace from relegation on the last game of the season.

At the beginning of the 2001/2 season, former Man Utd captain, Steve Bruce was appointed new first team boss.