0-5 at home to Wimbledon in 1985 early in the Steve Coppell era.

I think some fans had a bit of go at Ron Noades in the Directors' Box during the game.

It was utter rubbish.

Palace 0, Chelsea 3, 1997/98 season.

We had started the season well, winning at Everton with a goal from exciting debutant Lombardo. The record shows that we actually did OK in the first couple of months of that season but, at least in my memory, the writing seemed to be on the wall from the beginning. That might be because we were awful at home, right from the outset.

Over time, rumours began to spread that the club was a mess behind the scenes. Back in September when we played Chelsea at home, however, all we knew was that the team was distracted, uncommitted, rudderless and gutless.

We were never in the game. They started fast, took control, scored, kept the ball, and then bit by bit realised that they could play at testimonial-tempo, and save their energy for bigger games. They moved up, and then calmly back down through the gears, and we didn't lay a finger on them (and this was back in the days when you could still use a bit of aggression to compensate for lack of skill).

At 0-2 the players were sulking around like bullied schoolboys and my mate said 'Come on, let's go'. I told him I wanted to see the third Chelsea goal before I left. He asked me how I knew there would be a third goal. Well, I said, it seems likely to me that Chelsea, on cruise control as they are, would fancy getting a third to put a suitable gloss on the scoreline and that Palace, piss-weak as they are, would be powerless to prevent it.

Just as I said it, the third goes in.

By the end of that year our home-record showed 12 defeats and only 2 wins . Aside from losing 0-3 to Chelsea we lost by the same score at home to Liverpool, Wimbledon, Coventry, Manchester United and Leicester. At no stage in any of those games did we lay a glove on anyone.

Just think about that for a second - SIX three-nil home defeats in a season... and that's without the 0-2 and 1-3 games, of which there were a few.

Unsurprising, the team finished bottom of the league in a state of f***ing abject shambles.

Thing is, there were plenty of decent players around at the time, plus our best ever manager. Just shows what can happen if the club isn't run right I suppose.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (31 Oct 2023 6.45pm)

I recall the demonstration outside the club after the game with supporters in a hissy-fit.