August 8 2025

Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace might not be a 'big club' like most of the top-tier giants of the Premier League, but there is something much more profound – soul, writes Louise Blake.

At the heart of that soul are its captains. A few leaders have over the years epitomised what it means to don the armband at Selhurst Park. Their legacies extend far beyond the playing field, interwoven into the spirit of the club and the people who support it.

Leading Through Identity and Adversity

Leadership for Palace has rarely been about the bright lights of stardom. Usually, it’s about toughness, dependability, and getting up when the moment calls.

When Geoff Thomas was given the armband from 1987 to 1993, the team was entering its most successful season to date as finalists in the FA Cup and third in the top flight. Thomas was more than just a midfield destroyer.

He personified defiance. His legend lives, in part, by what he did on the pitch but doubly so by how he’s lived beyond it, becoming an ambassador for leukemia research after beating the illness himself.

And not forgetting stalwart Joel Ward. Never one to chase the limelight but still ended up as the club’s eighth-highest appearance maker over a 13-year career. Surely, factors like his inclusion in that promotion for Palace in 2013 and that unfancied run to the FA Cup final in 2016 would surely remind people the times have a changed flavor.

It’s such continuing which builds faith; something necessary in a continuously changing division character-wise each season. So much so that when analysts would look up Premier League odds, they would discuss the reliable core of Palace more as an afterthought for survival in the league. He was unspectacular but solid, a sober force in getting things going forward.

Meanwhile, Mile Jedinak, brought a different taste of leadership with his towering presence and unrelenting energy in hauling the club into the promised land of the Premier League, making history as the first Australian to captain an FA Cup final side.

His bulldog-spirit in midfield lifted those around him, particularly when the chips were down. Jedinak’s leadership is grounded, fierce, and remarkably consistent.

One must also remember Jim Cannon, who was associated with Palace for 15 long years and had made over 600 appearances. Promotion, relegation, and all that jazz in between, he was a constant, a relic of that bygone era when club loyalty was something he gave a damn about. You just can’t put a figure on that sort of commitment but you sure as heck can’t get it out of your mind.

Character Over Headlines

Some captains leave an indelible mark even in brief tenures. Attilio Lombardo is a case in point. He was only at the Palace for a couple of years, yet he left such an indelible impression.

From Juventus and the Italian national team, to South London he brought international class. It was rather chaotic at the time, yet there he was, stepping up to player-manager, a move that simply should not have worked out but did; he did so with grace and professionalism at a moment that demanded it.

Then there is Marc Guéhi, the calm man of the modern approach. Still early days in his captaincy, he has taken them to an FA Cup final and been lauded for his cool, inclusive brand of leadership.

Where past captains may have focused on words, Guéhi talks through his actions, playing accurately, lifting teammates with gentle words, and keeping his feet in burgeoning optimism.

What has been common with these leaders, as mentioned earlier, is not the trophies or matches. It is how they have framed the culture around them. Palace has never really needed celebrity captains, it’s needed anchors: players that embody the identity of the club, hardworking, underestimated, and fiercely proud.

To put it all together

The heritage of the Captains from Crystal Palace is of personality. Be it Geoff Thomas bursting through the middle, Joel Ward calmly doing the job through the turbulent years, or Marc Guéhi presiding with modern calm, each Captain has left behind something priceless, the blueprint to lead in integrity.

It’s easy to look at the bigger clubs with the bigger budgets and think that’s the benchmark. But at the Palace, the benchmarks are a little different. They’re in the grit during relegation scraps, in loyalty to ten or more years at one club, and in the captain’s bond with the crowd.

These captains haven’t just worn the armband, they’ve deserved it. For the style of leadership isn’t merely a footballing side, but a representation of determination, integrity, and muted force in English football in recent times. And that’s a heritage that doesn’t weaken; it multiplies.