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March 29 2024 1.50pm

Crystal Palace’s one-season wonders

June 1 2017

Mamadou Sakho

Mamadou Sakho

Over the years, Crystal Palace has fielded some great players and had capable managers. They have also had quite a few one-season wonders. Here we will look at a few of the most noteworthy mentions, and whether or not they were an asset to Palace.

Edgar Davids

Among the most notable examples of a short-stayer is Edgar Davids, who joined the club in July 2010 at the tail end of a highly successful career that stretched back into the early 1990s.

Davids only stayed for a few months, though, announcing he was leaving in November of the same year.

Everybody assumed it was his retirement and heartily applauded his contribution, so felt a little hurt when he signed up for a final stint with Barnet in 2012. 

Mamadou Sakho

Other players only ever intended to stay a short while, such as Mamadou Sakho who joined this year on loan from Liverpool until the end of the season.

He certainly made an impression and was awarded Player of the Month in March. He even made the six-man shortlist for Player of the Season after playing only eight matches. Fans will certainly be sorry to see him go.

Hermann Hreidarsson

Another one-season wonder was Hermann Hreidarsson. When the Icelandic left-back joined Palace in the 1997/98 season - his first appearance in the Premier League - he seemed keen to stick around.

He also showed a lot of promise, scoring one goal against Chelsea to briefly give Palace the lead and another against Torquay United in the League Cup. 

However, when the season ended and Palace was relegated Hreidarsson wandered off to the Third Division with Brentford before joining Wimbledon in 1999.

Is it fair to blame Hreidarsson for the relegation? Probably not, though there is one important point that is made clear in 888sport’s Top Premier League Facts:

Hreidarsson is the most relegated player in the history of the Premier League and all five of the first-grade teams he played for suffered a drop from the top while he was playing for them. 

Sam Allardyce

Not just players have given the Eagles less than a full season, with seven different managers passing through the club in as many years.

The most recent example was Sam Allardyce, who joined Crystal Palace in December last year with an impressive track record that included management of five Premier League teams.

Palace was facing relegation and needed strong leadership, having scored just 15 points in 17 matches, and Allardyce provided it.

Victories against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea helped the club stay in the top league.

He surprised everybody by announcing in May this year that he would resign from management altogether, saying:

"There comes a time when you have to take stock of what direction you want your life to take - and that's been the simple part for me."

One game wonders

Would you be surprised to hear that throughout the history of the club 83 players took part in only one game, the most recent being Jason Banton in the 2012/13 season?

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