Ward signing a new contract has been covered in other threads, but I feel the span, nature and story of his career with us deserves a thread of its own.

Most top-flight apperances?

Initially, I dismissed reports that Ward had made more Premier League appearances for Palace than any other player as typical of the media trend to discount anything that took place in the old first division. For me, the real accolade is how many top-flight appearances a player makes, not how many he makes after an arbitrary rebranding, and Ward just about gets in the top 30 for all time Palace appearances

That said, it occurs to me that he may in fact have played more top-flight games for us than anyone else. Most of our longest-serving players plied their trade across the top two divisions, or largely in the second and third tiers.

If Ward has indeed played the highest number of top-flight games, then it's a notable achievement - more so than playing one or two hundred more at a lower standard, in my opinion.

Longevity (and value)

Few play ten consecutive years with us. Zaha has clocked up more appearances overall, but not consecutively as he left and came back. Speroni was on the books for 15 years and made over 400 appearances, but also spent years at a time as the sub keeper, especially in the top flight. Outside of losing his place to AWB one year, Ward has played between 26 and 48 of our league games every year. He may not have been vital or irreplaceable, but he has been far more than just 'on the books' for all those years. To get (nearly) 10 years of top-flight football from a player for £400k is fantastic.

Quality

We talk often about his flaws, but whilst Ward may not walk into an all-time XI, you don't play ten years in the top flight if you're no good, even for Palace. AWB ousted Ward, but Cylne and Kelly couldn't. He's decent.

Journey

Not many players get to go on (and help take their club on) such a journey over the course of their employment. It must be great to get towards the end and be able to say that you have helped take a club so very far, and keep them there. A few of the promotion team can make that claim, and whilst Wilf trumps everyone on that front, this modern Palace is built on guys like Ward too.

Pragmatism

Finally, I think Ward is symptomatic of sensible, pragmatic management. One of the reasons Ward has played so often is that whilst we surely could have signed a more eye-catching young right back over the years, we were rarely able to do that whilst also signing players that we needed more. I doubt Parish and Freedman ever thought Ward was such a gem that we couldn't possibly do better, but they (correctly) assessed that he was good enough that the priorities for a limited budget lay elsewhere. That's not much of a compliment perhaps, but it is nonetheless a testament to Ward, and to the judgement of the club management.

All in all, he's been a great signing (I don't like the word 'servant - he has been paid well for his labour), seems a good lad, has given his all and played his part in what may be the best period on the club's history.

Cheers Joel.

Seems a genuinely decent human being and an honest pro, but really hope he will not be our main man on right-back this season. If so, some of the fast left-wingers in PL will have a ball.

Did he not come in as our Clyne replacement all those years back? If not directly it must have been a close run thing - memories of back then are slightly hazy.

In any event there feels to be a neat symmetry that they have intersected again.

No complaints from me at the new contract and he has done us proud over the years. There will have been bad ones in there but my memory Is of someone who was just really consistent - no real stinkers and nothing exceptional. Given Palace that isn't the worst outcome.

Two more steady years perfectly foreseeable even if pitch time may be reduced.

Over the years various managers have tried to replace Ward on a number of occasions but other than AWB he has kept the replacement on subs bench. eg Hunt, Kelly and many names i forget. He is not flashy but always gives 100%

I would suggest dependability was a more reliable personality trait in a defender than flamboyancy.
Phil Neal probably wasn't a whizz at parties but he didn't miss a game for Liverpool in 8 years and won stacks of trophies.
Lots to be said for stable guys in your team rather than emotional rollercoasters.

Oh look, I guess I'm biased.
He's a solid Christian lad and my son, born 4 days after his clearance off the line in the play-off final, just happens to be called Joel.

Given the paucity of our squad, I fail to see how this is bad news. I plan on cheering our entire starting eleven come opening day, new faces and old.

Not you too!

Pretty obvious from my post I was more than happy with him staying.