February 15 2003

Mark Goldberg

Former Eagles chairman Mark Goldberg claimed TERRY VENABLES took advantage of his naivety for his own financial gain when he became manager in 1998.

Goldberg said: "TERRY saw me coming - and he took advantage. But who can blame him?

"He took advantage of a young, inexperienced man with an enthusiasm for football who loved his club. I wasn't being sensible.

"I was naive and got carried away with my dream. I don't blame anyone but myself and my own love and ambition for the club. I didn't have my business head on.

"A lot of people took advantage of me because I was very excited about my ambitions."

But VENABLES hit back by saying: "It is fair to say Goldberg offered me a very good contract. But all I am guilty of is accepting that contract - and that's it.

"In the end, I never got the contract, so it makes no difference. But I am not responsible for the financial mess Palace got in - not at all.

"I wasn't even the highest-paid person at the club at that time. They had just come down from the Premiership, and there were a lot of big wages.

"So far as Goldberg saying I saw him coming, I think you can look in other directions for people who saw him coming. I was there only a matter of months."

However, VENABLES added: "I do feel for Mark in a lot of ways. I don't believe he was guilty of too much except for being a little bit naive. In the end, he spent an awful lot of his own money at Palace."

"They tell me that I'm not going to get a good reception from the Palace fans. So the tin hat will have to come out. But whatever they throw at me, I'll just have to take it.

"What disappoints me, though, is that those fans are completely misinformed. They don't know the facts.

"And considering I had two spells at Palace - and one of them a particularly good one - that does upset me. The whole thing is disappointing. When you get the blame for a bad experience that isn't your fault, it is always annoying.

"I felt I should have been able to walk away from Palace and just say, 'That's done and dusted'."

"My first time there was just fantastic. When we reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1976, we won at Leeds, Sunderland and Chelsea along the way - and they were all massive scalps for a Third Division side.

"We also made it into the top flight and, despite what happened later on, I will always have some great memories of my time at Palace to cherish."