Steve Coppell
Big Mal
Terry Venables

Big Mal was a force of nature and his personality and the way he basically re-branded the club, as someone said above, put us on the footballing map despite back to back relegations. I started supporting palace because he made us famous and cool at the time despite only being third division

We were great to watch under Venables first time around and it was obvious those great young players loved playing for him and he too was a real personality and such a likeable character.

Sir Steve Coppell, how him and noades put that great team together of the late 80’s early 90’s is a miracle really and never to be repeated. Can you imagine a team now finishing in 3rd place in the premier league with players signed from Dulwich Hamlet, Greenwich Borough, Crewe, Port Vale, Aylesbury, Bristol Rovers?
Coppell didn’t have the charm and charisma of mal and el tel, but we loved him for what he gave us, simply the best

Edited by monkey (05 Sep 2023 10.08pm)

Big Mal was a dreamer , a brilliant coach but a manager , no . I think he saw some of himself in Venables but realised TV had the better skill set of manager / coach to take forward the young players he had assembled , the rest as they say is history .

A brilliant time to be a fan though watching those kids grow under Venables ,playing some of the best football seen in South London and rising to div 1 (where did it all go wrong?)

1 Venables

Coppell was a breath of fresh air after the doldrum years under Mullery . Young ,enthusiastic and bright . Built a team we were all proud of .First ever cup final and a 3rd place finish that should have seen European football at Selhurst if not for the 11th hour reprieve given to Liverpool . I think that knocked the stuffing out of Coppell , he seemed to become a reluctant manager after that ,players left and it all just became a struggle .

2 Coppell

There are a few who could have made it into my top three had they hung around long enough Freedman ,Bruce ,Pulis and Sam Allardyce all had us playing effective football ,Pardew was great in spells but was poor enough in others to be discounted .
Which leaves me with only one contender. Roy has been great for the club giving us a stability we have lacked in the past . Yes its been frustrating at times but Roy has got the best of the squads he has had . 10 years in the top flight , can't argue with that

3 Roy Hodgson

Would agree on both counts , I think the most dissapointed I have been when a manager left was when Bruce did one to Birmingham

Ian Holloway then a toss up between Bert Graham and Dick Head

Big Mal was a dreamer , a brilliant coach but a manager , no . I think he saw some of himself in Venables but realised TV had the better skill set of manager / coach to take forward the young players he had assembled , the rest as they say is history .

A brilliant time to be a fan though watching those kids grow under Venables ,playing some of the best football seen in South London and rising to div 1 (where did it all go wrong?)

1 Venables

Coppell was a breath of fresh air after the doldrum years under Mullery . Young ,enthusiastic and bright . Built a team we were all proud of .First ever cup final and a 3rd place finish that should have seen European football at Selhurst if not for the 11th hour reprieve given to Liverpool . I think that knocked the stuffing out of Coppell , he seemed to become a reluctant manager after that ,players left and it all just became a struggle .

2 Coppell

There are a few who could have made it into my top three had they hung around long enough Freedman ,Bruce ,Pulis and Sam Allardyce all had us playing effective football ,Pardew was great in spells but was poor enough in others to be discounted .
Which leaves me with only one contender. Roy has been great for the club giving us a stability we have lacked in the past . Yes its been frustrating at times but Roy has got the best of the squads he has had . 10 years in the top flight , can't argue with that

3 Roy Hodgson