I don't really remember that team, or Swindlehurst himself, but I have a few weird fragments of memory about him/that time.

In my mind, when he went (midway through our first season in the top tier?), we went to pot and never recovered. And I knew we were done.

My other memory was a stunning overhead kick. I know it's daft, but in my head somebody threw it to him and he overhead kicked it from miles out.

Three questions

1. Was he actually any good?
2. Did his departure coincide with our collapse (notwithstanding the whole QPR thing)?
3. Did he ever score a great great overhead kick or did i dream it?

He was sort of a hero to me and I was gutted when he went.

Edited by Ginger Pubic Wig (12 Sep 2020 10.20pm)

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Had one cleared off the line against Brighton in 1978.

He was really good. As I recall took a long while to get there though, then went to Derby once he’d properly found his mojo.

David Swindlehurst was our main striker in the mid to late seventies and whilst not prolific I seem to recall he scored 13-15 goals a season.

He scored a spectacular scissor kick in the 4-1 win against Ipswich Town in 1979 which put us top of Division One for the first time!

You can google a photo of that.

1. Yes of course. I wouldn’t put him in the top bracket of forwards I’ve seen at Palace - no way, but he was a good forward in the mould of a Glen Murray I suppose. Not pacey but used his braun and brain to create and score.

2. Well it did but wasn’t the reason for the collapse I’d say. He went on loan to Derby (later permanent) midway through our first season in Div 1. Not sure why he left, but things had already started to go downhill on the pitch by then after an amazing start to the season when we topped the league for the one and only time in our history.

I suppose his departure was the first sign however that things behind the scenes were not so good. In the summer we lost Kenny Sansom to Arsenal and got Clive Allen and Paul Barron in return. We got off to an awful start then Venables walked and went to QPR - taking a few players with him. Venables leaving was the death nail as those that had been brought through by him and loved him, basically just gave up.

I’d say the reason for the sudden collapse of the Team of the 80’s (as talked about in the brilliant recent documentary) was that they were such a young, inexperienced side and manager, that when they started losing matches for the first time in their lives, as it was all up, up, up and success up until then, they just didn’t know how to handle it. I’d say the beginning of the end was the 3-0 slapping we got at Anfield just before Christmas 79.

3. As already mentioned, I think the overhead goal you might be thinking of was his scissor kick at home to Ipswich when we won and for one glorious week, were officially the best team in the land.

Swindlehurst’s career was blighted by quite a few injuries. I do recall a time when Kember was manager in ‘82 when there was real talk of us signing him back from Derby. It never happened and he soon signed for West Ham, breaking our hearts with a last minute equaliser in a big FA Cup tie at Selhurst. We lost the replay.

A fact a lot won’t know about him is that he actually was at Wimbledon in their FA Cup winning season. Only played a couple of games though.

Edited by Bubbs (18 Sep 2020 3.47am)

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A palace Legend, my mate got a sock he threw to the fans that wonderfull evening when we all ran on the pitch, he had the 70s p*** star tash, great memories.

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

Excellent analysis

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