Add Gary Goodchild to that list, if memory serves he featured in the ill-fated series of FA Cup games with Swansea but little else.

Anyway these nostalgia fests have continued to rack up on my planner, waiting for me to find the time to catch up. Last night presented the perfect opportunity with my wife and daughter out at the local am-dram production and our son happily ensconced in a FIFA XBox marathon sesh with his mates. Just what Saturday nights were made for when you hit middle age, I poured myself a large whisky and settled down.

The programme I picked at random from the recorded selection was FA Cup fourth round day in January 1981. Everton vs Liverpool was the feature game, the Toffees gaining a famous 2-1 win against their all-conquering neighbours. A match in which no quarter was asked or given, tackles flying in all over the place and Souness would have been sent off at least twice these days but instead received only a booking. This was during the period when for some reason the match officials had stopped using red and yellow cards, so there was an ongoing sense of confusion as to whether or not players had actually been booked - after Souness had flown into his latest horror tackle the commentator Gerald Sinstadt remarked 'and now we can find out whether or not he was booked earlier, because if he had he will surely now be sent off'. One of the Everton players took out Jimmy Case on the touchline with a karate kick well after the ball had gone, Case didn't even flinch, just picked himself up and gave the offender a friendly ruffle of the hair.

But the game which really caught my attention was Barnsley versus Enfield. Barnsley were apparently flying high in the old third division on the back of just one defeat in 23 games whereas Enfield of the 'Isthmian League' were the only surviving non-league club in the competition. Note that a massive crowd of 24,000 turned out for this one, another reminder that back then the FA Cup was king and would attract much bigger crowds than the league.

Enfield's goalkeeper was apparently just 5'6'' tall, again wouldn't happen these days but he had a really good game particularly on crosses, where he had no qualms whatsoever about coming out to athletically pluck the ball off the heads of the Barnsley players - always catching, never punching.

Enfield played really well, hitting the inside of the post and having two goals disallowed for offside/ The second was fair enough but the first one was a fine illustration as to how some rule changes since those days are definitely for the better. During a goalmouth scramble one of the Enfield players tried to poke the ball home from close range but was blocked by the goalie, the player falling over the onrushing goalie to end up in a crumpled heap on the line by the post. Another Enfield player got to the rebound and stroked it home into the opposite corner, whereupon the referee immediately gave offside against the first player - who was behind the goalie let's not forget, so in no way interfering with play. Looking at it now it seems an absolutely crazy decision but no-one batted an eyelid, it was just how the rules were back then.

Barnsley led 1-0 for much of the game but Enfield earned a well-deserved replay with a late equaliser, an exciting moment even watching 40-odd years later without knowing how the game would pan out.

Barnsley had a couple of important Palace connections covering the sublime and ridiculous. First off Ian Evans was partnering Mick McCarthy in the heart of their defence, he had gone there to rebuild his career after getting crocked by George Best. He didn't have the best of games if truth be told, getting the run around from a grizzled, bearded Enfield target man who eventually nabbed the equaliser.

And then on the ridiculous front - who was leading the line for Barnsley but dear old Trevor Aylott. In his younger days back then and a bit more mobile than I remembered. Inevitably the bastard scored, albeit a tap-in to an empty net after a lovely free-kick had come back off the inside of the post with the goalie stranded. I perked up later on when he made an absolute mess of a straightforward header six yards out, mistiming it badly and screwing the ball horribly wide. That was more like it.

Anyway all good fun again, it's always very evocative to watch the football of yesteryear and wonder where all the time went.

It will be interesting to think what we would find amusing in 30 years time from todays football highlights shows?!

We won't have rotten muddy cabbage patch pitches to look back at, but I suspect we will be nostalgic seeing our wooden Main Stand again, be agog at how much hard work the refs made of VAR, and maybe also laugh at all the shithousery tactics (long since outlawed in the 2050s!) to close out winning positions.

Our 1979 match v Middlesbrough is the featured match on Saturday at 10:30 on ITV4. A disappointing end to Christmas.

Advertised that palace v millwall 1977 on itv 4 this Saturday

Will there be scenes of crowd trouble?

Was that the first match of the season when we thrashed them at the Den?

Must be the game at the den halaire goal don't remember a home game on big match v millwall that year

First league match; we'd played Brentford a few days earlier in the League Cup.

If it's 1977 it has to be the first game of the season in August away at The Den which we won 3-0

We were in Division Three the previous season and didn't play Millwall. The return game at Selhurst was in the New Year 1978

Memory gets a bit hazy but is it the game when we scored from their corner and Sansom and Hilaire worked the ball upfield for Chatterton to score.

Currently beating the bermondsey dogs 1 0 HT
Remember watching this game on the big match back in the day

My first league away game, very scary outside the ground for a 12 year old monkey, my mates grandad wasn’t bothered though, he wanted to beat them away with his rattle that he still took to games, which was always a bit embarrassing :D

As usual back then, more Millwall in the away end than palace

Back in those days, iirc, you could walk round through a tunnel behind the stand. Millwall took it in shifts to lurk in there.

We finished 9th that season, but it was the genesis of the Team Of The Eighties.

There was plenty of them lurking in our end on the terrace as well, little pockets of palace, but that was about it

I was there too. I had a mate at school and his whole family were Millwall fans. They were away on holiday but they asked me to buy them four programmes so they could collect the vouchers in case Millwall got to the cup final.

I admired their optimism then and still do.

From my vague memory of that time with Millwall fans at school, they were all a bit deluded with that team before the season started, until we gave them a reality check

Enjoyed watching the Big Match again, always good to see Palace win when the programme showed a decent proportion of the main match. We made 'em look second best by a long way.

Couldn't remember where we stood that day but we'd plenty of experience of going to and from the old Den. I do remember the edgy walk back to New Cross Gate station and the awful silence on the train back to Croydon until it reached Anerley. And then the surprise of discovering most of the carriage was Palace :D.

Watching all three games, it was usual back then for there to be not many palace at Millwall, but when Leeds scored at Newcastle there was silence, hardly any Leeds fans there, yet Man U looked like they had thousands at Brum, both ends of the ground, proper ‘limbs’ when they scored, with the Birmingham Zulu’s looking ready to charge the other side of the fence….,..those were the days :D

After that one we pulled out of New Cross Gate for East Croydon and at every station stop on the way back a mob of Palace in our carriage jumped off to have a pop at any Millwall fans before jumping back on again until we got to Norwood Junction where two Millwall fans got battered on the platform with one being completely laid out cold and having his watch nicked. The police arrived, the train didn’t go any further and all in that carriage including us were told to leave the station.