I just want to say how proud I am of what my Club has achieved in the 55 years or so I’ve been hooked. I started following Palace in their promotion season from Division Four (I know, glory hunter) and wondered where the other 23 clubs that were in the same division with us are now. It certainly puts into perspective Palace’s remarkable rise.

In all that time Palace have only been outside the top two divisions for three seasons when they dropped into Division Three in the seventies – Palace finished third bottom in Division Two the first season that three up and three down was introduced in Divisions One and Two (typical Palace that). Now they sit in 6th place in the Premier League. By contrast, none of the other 23 sides that were in Division Four with us is, at the present time, in the top two divisions.

Seven of them are in League One (Crewe, Doncaster, Gillingham, Millwall, Oldham, Peterborough and Rochdale), seven in League Two (Accrington, Carlisle, Exeter, Hartlepool, Mansfield, Northampton and York, five in the National League (Aldershot, Barrow, Chester, Southport and Wrexham), two in the National League North (Bradford Park Avenue and Stockport) and two are in the Northern Premier League, Premier Division (Darlington and Workington).

Since their Division Four days, five of the clubs have folded and reformed (Accrington, Aldershot, Bradford PA, Chester and Darlington). League One Doncaster and League Two sides Accrington, Carlisle, Exeter, Mansfield and York have all spent a season or more outside the Football League in that time.

Although 12 of the 23 (Carlisle, Crewe, Doncaster, Gillingham, Mansfield, Millwall, Northampton, Oldham, Peterborough, Stockport, Wrexham and York) have at some time escaped the bottom two divisions, only Millwall, Oldham, Northampton and Carlisle have made it (briefly) to the top division.

I’m mighty pleased I backed the right horse - mind you, living in Thornton Heath at the time might have had something to do with that.

"Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."
Mark Twain.