February 17 2017

Allison's Eagles… Big Mal was a manager who knew all about relegation

After more decades than he can bear to think about, Jamesey gives his thoughts on our current predicament.

Being relegated could be compared with being hit over the head with a sock full of wet sand – after a few times you can get used to it but does it hurt any the less? Your decision.

This veteran supporter first visited Selhurst in the mid-50s when he was a schoolboy at a Surrey grammar school. I know it is more correct to be a “student” nowadays but that would be misinformation as I never had an inclination to study anything.

As was often the case in grammar schools we played rugby. It was hoped to maintain the illusion that we were an Etonian-type public school with “houses”, “colours” and we played middle-class games – football was strictly for the “oiks".

But football was much more interesting to watch than rugby then, although maybe not so much now.

I started to enjoy visits to my “local” club and by the end of the decade Palace were a member of the new 4th Division and pottered along quite happily until, chaired by Arthur Wait, we were promoted to the 3rd Division in 1961, followed by elevation to the 2nd Division in 1964.

Then, blow me down, in 1969, we rose to the loftiness of the 1st Division when Steve Kember scored the winning goal that secured a place in the elite.

This was all too easy-peasy.

Now we were one of the south London giants of the day like Charlton and Chelsea. Yes, Chelsea were always inexplicably referred to as “south Londoners” in those days although they were quite obviously north of the Thames.

Then reality kicked in.

A new manager, Malcolm Allison, had powers almost impossible to imagine now, and the “Glaziers” became the “Eagles” and our colours were changed from claret and light blue to red and blue.

Despite the affection with which Big Mal seems to be held, the other big change he brought about was a lack of success.

We descended two divisions in consecutive years and by the mid-70s were back in the 3rd Division.

The huge chasm of wealth and European status between the divisions did not exist then and many supporters were not too anguished and, although the ground was not an all-seater, gates which would be respectable top-tier figures now were quite common.

By 1977, with new boss Terry Venables, Palace started to rise again and after two promotions were back in the big time in 1979 after that famous Burnley game when nearly 52,000 packed Selhurst to witness the occasion.

The Eagles struggled to stay at the top level and after only two seasons descended once more. This hurt rather more than our previous drop although they were not happy years from the footballing performance point of view.

After a turbulent period, a new manager, Steve Coppell, appointed by owner Ron Noades steadied the ship and throughout the 80s, despite the excesses of hooliganism which did their best to ruin the game, there was a gradual improvement.

I hesitated to mention the Venables “team of the 80s” above as enough derision and mirth have been directed at the label but in 1989, one of our strongest and most talented squads grabbed the “holy grail” once more and we were promoted.

Then came four of the finest seasons in the club’s history and, as my reflections here are about failure rather than glory, let’s skip to 1993 when it all ended in tears.

We thought we were safe but an unbelievable winning sequence from Oldham Athletic saw us visit Arsenal on the final day of the ’92-93 season for a do-or-die battle.

For some reason, maybe I was late getting to Highbury or the Palace away area was full to capacity, I decided to pay at the turnstile, as one could in those days, and sneaked quietly into the Clock End.

As we now know, it didn’t go well at all. We lost the match and were relegated. Seeing Wrighty strutting about in his Arsenal shirt and the jubilation of all the Arsenal fans around me didn’t help.

Of all the relegations this was the one that hurt the most for me. We had, we thought, pretty well established ourselves as a top-tier team with a strong squad including internationals.

We had nearly qualified for European football and after four seasons we had grown used to being in the big time, nearly always featured in national paper reports and our games frequently highlighted on TV.

All that was no more and to top it all, Steve Coppell did what he thought was the decent thing (as he always did) and resigned.

But never write the Eagles off, we absolutely strolled through what was then called the 1st Division and found ourselves back in the elite again in 1993-94 under the stewardship of Alan Smith.

However it was only a brief stay. To reduce the Premier League to a 20-team competition, four teams were relegated and you can, of course, guess who came fourth from bottom.

The ‘90s were to become very much an up-and-down experience for the Eagles. A play-offs victory after a famous goal from the toothless wonderboy, David Hopkin, saw us back up again in 1997.

But another disastrous season saw Palace finish rock bottom and relegation blues were tempered by an even bigger concern as financial instability started to rock the Selhurst foundations.

In 2000, a new, young owner, Simon Jordan, commenced a decade of odd decisions and revolving door management.

At the beginning of 2004, Palace were floundering in the bottom group of the second tier until another new manager, this time Iain Dowie, arrived and sensationally took us to the play-offs which were won against West Ham.

But it was yet again only a one-season stay and some incredibly odd purchases of several foreign mercenaries who made no contribution to the cause whatsoever saw another relegation.

And so life in the second tier continued and, apart from administration and all the financial mayhem going on, Palace narrowly avoided the descent into the 3rd tier in 2010. That was the second time in the decade that the Eagles had avoided 3rd division football on the last day of the season.

And now, in our fourth season in the top division, we are facing a tough scrap to stay up. This long-time supporter is fervently hoping to avoid the trap-door. A fifth season at the top level would be a club record and and would make a happy man feel very old (did I get that quite right?).

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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