I've seen many players talked about as Palace legends on this site most recently Matt Jansen! (Do me a favour) What makes a true Palace legend?

Number of appearances, quality of player, level of impact or just a favourite for whatever reason.

In the 25 years I've been watching Palace I can name only 4 that I think qualify as definate "legends", 3 possibles & several that deserve mention. I have not included any current players as I think you can only gauge a players standing after they have left the club or retired:

Definates:
Jim Cannon
Ian Wright
Nigel Martyn
Steve Coppell

Possibles:
Kenny Sansom
Mark Bright
Geoff Thomas

Worth a mention:
Andy Gray
Eric Young
Andy Thorne
John Salako
Vince Hilaire

Feel free to slate this list & put a case for you own selections.

Good and interesting topic.

I think it's a mixture of everything - Loyalty, performances, effort and public affection for the club which doesn't necessarily mean the player is a fantastic footballer.

Of recent times I'd say Steve Coppell (for obvious reasons), Nigel Martyn (sacrificied his England place twice in a bid to help try and get us up again), Matt Jansen & Neil Shipperley both gave generously when Palace were in administration and it's little touches like that, that mean a lot to the football supporter. If you're going for excitement and pure skill in a Palace shirt then you obviously have to say Ian Wright just for his heroics in the Cup Final alone. For a never say die attitude and skippering the team through it's best period Geoff Thomas and Jim Cannon also for his most appearences. I'm not sure about including Dougie Freedman just yet, but his public affection for the club in recent years means a lot and he should certainly be thought about as a candidate and I think almost certainly Iain Dowie is likely to be.

"Friend first, Boss second..Probably chilled out entertainer third" - David Brent 2002.

There is a dividing line between 'legend' and 'cult', e.g. one of my all-time faves is Dave Madden but he definitely falls into the latter category.

One other 'legend' that I would nominate is Kevin Mabbutt, who was the only player (Cannon excluded) providing consistent quality (and hope) during what is surely the most depressing period in the club's history? He was far too good for Palace at the time and it is a real shame that his career was curtailed by injury

I always think of Don Rogers as a legend.
(nice to see him make a come-back in those 118 commercials)

Grammar: The difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit

Not all of you are answering the question!

I think it's a really interesting topic and would be nice to know what you think constitutes to being a legend, eg What makes Dave Swindlehurst a legend?

"Friend first, Boss second..Probably chilled out entertainer third" - David Brent 2002.

A Palace legend indicates.
A top goal scorer with 250 or more appearences.
A midfielder who works his nuts off with 250 appearences.
A defender who works tirelessly with 250 appearences.
And a goalie who is a leader and great shot stopper with 250 appearences.
I see any player who hits this target with worthy performances is worth a mention.
Right i`m of home for the record book.

Edited by john.g (30 Sep 2004 3:35pm)

We are Palace from Selhurst.