You'd definitely not expect that of Raymond

I was raised on the orange nets, which were relatively untroubled by our strikers in those days

Totally agree John.

Interesting how times have changed so much. These days, when a team is promoted to the top division, they invariably bring in a minimum of half a dozen new players in the close season, and often many more than that. But in those days there wasn't the perception of a vast difference between Divs 1 and 2, and it wasn't unknown for promoted teams to sign no new players. Palace decided to invest in the two big names who happened to be injured for that televised match, and I don't recall them signing any others. But neither proved to be better than what we already had, particularly in Flanagan's case

Right about Flanagan, we paid a record transfer fee of £650,000. Apart from his dodgy perm he wasn't much to write home about. Swindlehurst was a much better striker.

In fact, Mike Flanagan's main claim to fame was his fight with teammate Derek Hales, leading to them both being sent off

I have, I remember palace fans singing “Barry Silkman walks on water, everybody knows that bullshit floats” in that city game,which made me sad, because I loved him at palace

Just caught up with this episode, what a great feeling watching that team again

In the 80/81 season apparently Burridge wanted a pay rise which Venables didn't agree to. Prior to the start of the season we got the Arsenal No 2, Paul Barron who played in goal that season.

For me it was the main reason why we suffered. Burridge was a good keeper and unfortunately for us Barron wasn't as good.

Barron wasn't the greatest keeper, I grant you. But there were numerous reasons we went downhill and it would be unfair to put Barron at the top of the list

Losing Sansom was one of them

Paul Barron won Palace player of the season in1982 so the rest of them must have been really bad :eek: (They we’re : :D )
Mind you the voting system was a piece of paper with a name scribbled on it placed in a hat on a train or coach on the way back from the last away game of the season by about 150 voters :p

Spending around 1 million on Flannagan and Francis when we did not have the money was partly responsible for the slide, Moreover that deal lead to us facing bankruptcy and the worst chairman in Palace history Bloye readily accepting Sainsburys offer for a supermarket in the Whitehorse.

Over 30 years later we are still suffering from having that idiot in charge of the club.

Sadly, the sale of all that land has hampered our progress both on and off the field. I don't know what the finances were at the time, but that one decision to sell to Sainsbury’s has caused so many issues for the club's development ever since.

Not to mention when Lady Edridge School closed and I understand Ron Noades wanted to purchase the whole site but the Council would not agree.
That's probably the reason why those houses built on the site are so close to the ground.

All too true Ian. I remember Ron saying that the Council, in allowing those houses to be built, would not affect any future planning application put in by the club to develop the main stand. We all know how well that promise worked out:frown:

It's frightening that those decisions from 40 years ago are still biting us on the arse now

The Main stand will probably be held up for ages

The Whitehorse hamstrung by Space

The Arfur, by local residents in park road

The Holmesdale, sinking!

It's a shame there isn't anywhere in the local area with a big enough footprint.

I have started recording these so I can skim through during the odd quiet moment.

Yesterday I settled down to watch an edition from November 1979, the games were as follows:

Luton vs QPR (featured match, 1st vs 2nd in the old Div 2)
Southampton vs Forest
Everton vs Middlesbrough
And the goals from Sheffield Wednesday vs Barnsley (also Div 2)

First observation - imagine if the BBC or ITV tried to pull off a stunt like the above schedule these days. No 'big six', they would be barred from bidding for the rights for the next 20 years. That was the thing about football back then, if you were a Palace fan (or for that matter a Liverpool fan), then generally speaking you were also a football fan more broadly. Since you didn't have the saturation coverage and very few live games, the highlights packages were taken for what they were without complaint. If your own team was on that was a rare treat, but if not then you were quite happy to sit back and watch other teams in action. As such your knowledge of the leagues and the players gradually expanded over time. These days everything is so much more tribal and football seems dominated by followers (not fans) of one of the big clubs who could not give a shit about the rest of the league.

The Luton-QPR highlights (about 20 minutes) were skilfully edited to create the impression of a pulsating game. 19,000 crammed into Kenilworth Road, up close to the pitch, and the atmosphere was fantastic. Really noticeable how back in those days there was so much less emphasis on trying to retain possession. Teams had much more direct attacking intent and the proportion of forward passes was much greater - sometimes long ball but not always, there were also some fairly intricate passing moves. And the forwards were absolute workhorses who would chase everything. So every time the ball went forward you would get this expectant roar from the crowd in anticipation of something about to happen. The defenders - less skilful than these days and on poor pitches - struggled to cope under the pressure from these attacking nutters snapping at their heels. Quite a refreshing change from watching Benteke amble around.

The game ended 1-1, QPR somehow getting away with a very imbalanced quasi 4-2-4 formation which accommodated the maverick talents of Bowles and Currie alongside Goddard and 18 year old Clive Allen up top. The little shit scored with a great finish, and was presciently picked out by the great Brian Moore afterwards as one to keep an eye on. At one point Luton thought they had scored when the QPR goalie saved a header while standing behind the line. We saw one inconclusive replay and then swiftly moved on, the moment was forgotten about. Seemed better than VAR somehow.

Southampton gubbed European Cup holders Forest 4-1. Saints had an experienced side with Alan Ball pulling the strings and Mick Channon up front. Their fourth goal, finished off by Phil Boyer, was a wonderful sweeping passing move from one end of the pitch to the other.

Thoroughly entertaining fayre anyway, you got a feeling of real earthiness about proceedings compared to today's somewhat sterile and over-marketed product. Having all the matches being played at the same time on a Saturday afternoon also helped, it just felt like everyone was in it together and afterwards the league table would shine a true light on things. You didn't have to wait for all the other bloody games to catch up over the following few days.

Being interviewed in his loft:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbJX_QNJZtI

Cheers, haven't seen that before :p

I really would have thought if the club got together with the council and local residents, they could redevelop the entire site including the new houses where the school used to be and Sainsburys. It needs vision and communication, and it's all possible.

If only it were that easy Louis. The problem is, there is only one party really interested in that idea, the rest want some sort of financial incentive to do so.
In Sainsbury’s case, it's more than the club is willing or able to pay.
There has, I believe, been plenty of 'communication', but under the present circumstances its not going to happen I'm afraid.

Just watching it on ITV hub (all episodes on there). Had forgotten how exciting it was - loads of goalmouth action and brian moore then says ‘10 minutes gone’ ��

Has anybody got the Brighton v Palace game (0-0) in 1979. Would love to see it as it was my first ever Palace game. I think ITV showed it.

Barron didn't give the back four the confidence that Burridge did. Sansom was a big loss and his transfer also was to help pay off his sizeable gambling debts but in my opinion Barron didn't command his area like Burridge and didn't seem to give the back four confidence in him. He also had no first team experience only playing for the Arsenal reserves which was a huge gamble considering our strengths the previous seasons were built on our defence and not our attack.
Without a defence we could rely on for keeping it tight at the back it put our forwards under pressure to produce goals which they weren't known for in the first place.

Palace v Forest on Big Match Revisited on Easter Saturday morning!

Do you know what year this match is for please?

It'll be 1979. The Shilton nutmeg.

Fabulous, another chance to watch the Team of the Eighties. :lux:

Thanks.

Cheers for the heads up!! Beating the reigning European champions was one of those great memories from that era....happy days :lux:

what an excellent post.

Yep, you are a great writer Bipe (at least in commenting on football matches anyway !)

Thanks for sharing - look forward to that, will go down lovely with a stack of chocolate

These old highlights are fantastic. All the games ive seen looked more exciting than the stuff we watch now. Having said that, i guess they only show the best ones. There are loads on ITV hub - my wife (rightly) thinks I'm sad watching them with my headphones on on the laptop...Vividly remember standing on the holmesale for the 3-4 wolves when we went 2-0 up in 5 mins, thinking Chris Jones was our missing link. And the l venables/allison interview after the palace win over man city is gold dust (and the game great too)

Wouldn't go that far but as it happens I've just had the time to catch up on another episode from November 1979.

In brief, as there was some Palace related interest in every game:

Arsenal 0 Liverpool 0, David Price a busy presence in the Arsenal midfield.

Everton 1 Spurs 1, Chris Jones with the Spurs goal, the archetypal centre forward's header from a right wing cross?? Pinch me, I'm dreaming. Spurs experimented with a disastrous halfway line offside trap in this game which Everton broke through at will but were unable to convert their openings.

Notts County 2 Chelsea 3 from the second division, Micky Droy had an absolute nightmare at the back for Chelsea but atoned late on when his forceful clearing header started the move for the winning goal (Clive Walker, whose skill stood out in the highlights). Gary Locke also played for Chelsea. At one point the Notts County goalie deliberately handles outside the area - catching a through ball - and doesn't even get booked.

Worth mentioning that they showed the top of the division one table and there was little old Palace sitting in third place behind Man Utd and Liverpool, a mere two points off top spot.

Interesting to watch the era of the backpass, this was quite prevalent but also noticeable that the defenders screwed up this seemingly simple manoeuvre quite frequently, leading to exciting goalmouth scrambles. Again, the bobbly and muddy winter pitches introduced a good level of jeopardy into proceedings.

There was also a 'rewind' segment back to 10 years previously (so November 1969) and they picked Palace Vs Arsenal at Selhurst Park for this. We got gubbed 5-1, Per Bartram briefly pulling us level in the first half with a scrappy close range finish.

I am finding these programmes fascinating, knowing I would have watched them at the time as an impressionable seven year old but having no real memory of them. It's almost like a different sport when you look back on it now.

By the way Philipw I think they are showing every weekly show from the 79/80 season sequentially, so not just cherry picking the best ones.

Watching the S3 E2 draw at Brighton in October 76 now. Fitness and technique has certainly moved on but it's great viewing. Funny watching us with Jim Cannon and Paul Hinshlewood from our excellent defence in 78 plus both playing in midfield. Cannon scored for us but did not look comfortable in midfield. A very young Kenny Sansom is out there taking the goal kicks! Paul Hammond had a fantastic game but I don't remember any of my elders particularly talking of him fondly.

Thanks. Think ITV hub must just have a selection then. Still crying that the game v ipswich was not televised....

Episode 2 of this series is Palace v Man City. Venables v Allison. Available on the ITV hub

The latest episode moved on to the first Saturday in December 1979. Featured game was a 'resurgent' Spurs at home to leaders Man Utd. Pre-match focus was on the rising star Glenn Hoddle who just two days previously had scored a spectacular goal on debut for England against Bulgaria.

Spurs looked well on top in the first half and went into the interval 1-0 up courtesy of a Hoddle goal, a typically well taken first time sidefoot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. After looking all at sea in the first half Man U came out scrapping in the second and turned things around to eventually edge the game 2-1. None other than Steve Coppell popped up with the late winner, tapping into an empty net after a mix up between the Spurs goalie Aleksic and one of the defenders.

It's become increasingly noticeable to me that the behaviour of the managers and coaching staff back in those days was very different to today. No formal technical zone then of course, in theory they could roam around at will, but most of the time they would just sit in their dugouts. The odd instruction would be barked out, but from no more than a crouching position with arse raised slightly off the bench (primarily to avoid smashing their heads on the dugout roof). Also no fourth official so there was none of this constant berating that the likes of Klopp like to indulge in when a throw-in on the halfway line decision goes against them. Made me wonder whether, for this aspect at least, the introduction of the fourth official is a retrograde step as it gives these arsehole managers a natural target to aim at. And what other purpose do they serve, other than deal with substitutions (which the linesmen used to be able to deal with perfectly competently) and hold up the added time board (which never used to be a thing anyway). Ban fourth officials, that's what I say - either that or give them one free hit against each manager per game. And I mean that literally - next time Klopp starts moaning about some perceived slight, feel free to smack him in the chops as hard as you can.

The other quite amusing slot on the show is viewers' letters, which Brian Moore reads out while an image of the letter with name, address and sometimes even phone number is shown on the screen. The good old days before GDPR...of course these days it's all tweets and whatnot, back then people used to go to the trouble of expanding on their points and it was nice that Brian in turn took the trouble to read and respond to them.

I liked Burkenshaw throwing Hoddle under the proverbial bus.

Speaking of Glenn Hoddle, it's funny how those old highlights shows stick in your brain. I remember as a kid staying up late to watch Sportsnight and Spurs were at home to Manchester United. Joe Jordan mullered the Spurs keeper and (somewhat surprisingly) Hoddle went in goal. Steve Coppell inexplicably made a goal line clearance for Spurs from a United shot that was definitely going in, and I think the game finished a ridiculous 3-3 or something like that

Here's some nostalgia for you; the full highlights. Nowhere near as high scoring as you remember but you recalled the major incidents correctly. Jordan wiping out Aleksic is at about 11:30 and Ardiles late winner at 33:30. (You'll have to watch it all for Coppell's clearance)

:p

Look like we're about to be on again in a minute. Forest at Home, Dec 1979.

Excellent. The Whitehorse looks good

Only one sub. Must be a virus or something.

That kit :love:

Palace 1-0 HT

Ian Walsh

Selhurst is very loud

That roof:)

Jim Cannon is superb in interview. Not a single word minced.

Great Ipswich side tearing Man City a new one. No gloves for the keepers!
And size of the crowds in Div 4 at Pompey!

Eric Gates = Dead ringer for Modric

If there going week by week in order our game at anfield against Liverpool might be on next week at the time was realy built up by the media as new kids on the block team of the 80s against the established big club Liverpool .

Bit of a Harald Schumacher from Shilton on Ian Walsh. Shame he wasn’t so authoritative in 86

And then lets one through his legs to make up for it. Always liked him.

LOL

I watched this yesterday, I was at the actual match and the only thing I could recall was the goal. Can't believe he got away with that, how times have changed

Back on again tomorrow morning, Liverpool v Palace, the game that started the end of the team of the 80s. We were never the same after that game.

This is one Palace game I do not want to see again. :sob:

Well, I won't be watching that! :hmph::hmph::hmph:

I often wonder how things might have turned out if we'd won that game

I was there for that humiliation, but if you look at that Liverpool side it absolutely oozed quality with that XI eventually averaging 330 appearances for the club.

If you've got a smart tv there are loads of these accessible on the itv player, I've just found Palace v Charlton from 1974, its brilliant

Palace v Middlesbrough on next Saturday (24th). I have a feeling the wheels were starting to come off at this point.

Definitely!! Stuffed 3-0 just before this by Liverpool AND Brighton:sob:

Boro scored there winner in injury time, we lost 2-1.

I was at the match and never realised that it was on the telly. But then, it's hardly one I'm going to re-watch very often!!

I used to go in the turnstile next to where they parked the ITV lorry so always knew when we were on The Big Match. We used to stand waiting for Brian Moore to climb the rickety old ladder up to the gantry.

Just watched this. Best part was the Brian Clough interview after, absolutely brilliant viewing

Easy to see why he's the legend he was

Long time ago and we did lose 2-1 but I'm pretty sure they went 2-0 up and we got a goal back, late on. Having just been stuffed by the Scousers and even worse, the Weed, we were in freefall, by now.

Bizarrely I used to stand behind the tv camera on the halfway line in the Arthur and I can't remember it being there for that match, but then it was 41 years ago. :D

That’s where we used to stand, but sort of half way up the terrace right under the TV stand. You might be right, but it was always a source of great excitement to see the lorry there and know we were on TV. I always remember, typical palace, but the ladder Brian Moore used to climb had a rung or two missing:D

Your right, they went 2--0 up in the 90th min, then we got an injury time penalty.

On now ITV 4

I watched it last night instead of MOTD, we lost and things were definitely starting to slip, even the great Billy Gilbert got turned inside out at one stage:eek: but still a great watch

Palace v Man U on next Saturday (June 12) on ITV4, 11.30am.

Which year?

Still in 1979-80 season. You can catch up on the rest of the season on ITV Hub, I think. We’ve been on a few times. This match is March 1980.

Great thanks

Just watched this.
Brilliant.

Even though we lost, plenty of great footage of us looking good.

David Fry in goal for the injured Burridge.
Ian Walsh playing great.
Jerry Murphy injured and being replaced by Fenwick - who played really good. Yes. Fenwick.

A Brucie bonus of Stevie playing for them, up against Kenny Sansom.

Never seen it before - thought I had seen all the Palace footage from back then....

Loads of these are on YouTube as well which you can search for by series and episode number, i.e. S01E01.

Agree with all of this except "Ian Walsh playing great"

I thought he missed chance asfter chance, and we would have won with a decent striker

I was in the Holmesdale when Micky Thomas took that long range shot and despite Fry's best attempts to get close enough to palm it out, had to admire what in my opinion was one of the best away goals I've seen at Selhurst.
I also remember Jordan getting loads of stick before and during the game, so it was disappointing for him to get their first goal.
Love watching some of the old games and who doesn't like the late, great Brian Moore.

I have fallen well behind with these shows due to other commitments but yesterday I was able to sit down and catch up on the FA Cup third round action from early January 1980.

The featured game was the big clash between Spurs and Manchester United at White Hart Lane. Brian Moore informed us before kick off that, as you would expect, there was a sell-out crowd and in fact people had been turning up since shortly after dawn to ensure they would get in and watch the game. It almost made you weep to think about what we have lost, the FA Cup was such a massive competition back then.

Both sides of course picked their strongest possible line-ups, for Spurs this meant a debut for 17 year old Terry Gibson due to an injury crisis up front. Young Terry sported a crew cut back then and not the flowing gypsy locks he would adopt as he grew older. He had obviously been well schooled in the dark arts, happy to leave his foot in a few times much to the annoyance of the United defenders. Unfortunately for him his partner upfront was our old friend Chris 'shit' Jones, although to be fair Jones had a reasonably lively game and was unlucky to see Gary Bailey claw away a snapshot from 20 yards. The game ended 1-1, Ardiles turning from hero to villain in a few second half minutes. First opening the scoring with a low left footed strike and then conceding a very soft penalty when Gordon McQueen made the most of some contact from a cross. Spurs went on to win the replay at Old Trafford, I believe from memory Ardiles scored a great goal in that game in which Glenn Hoddle ended up playing in goal!

We then had very brief highlights from second division Birmingham's 2-1 win over first division high fliers Southampton. Noteworthy from the Palace perspective for a young Mark Dennis in the Blues line up, in fact his long throw led to their early opening goal. The St Andrews pitch was in a remarkable state, so many massive divots on it that it looked like it might have been imported from one of the fairways at The Belfry down the road.

Finally we went to fourth division Halifax versus first division Manchester City. This was most interesting for me as I recall watching it on the original Big Match all those years ago (I have no memory of the two games which preceded it). It must have been an early kick off as the whole game was played in broad daylight albeit grey skies, with not a floodlight in sight. If Birmingham's pitch was bad then The Shay was a whole other level - think allotments which had been used for practice by the local quad biking formation team. Typical cup tie fayre of the era, Halifax lobbed balls forward and City struggled to cope on the quagmire of a pitch. Eventually they wilted and Halifax got the goal they deserved for a famous 1-0 win. City manager Malcolm Allison sitting passively in the dugout looking forlorn and resigned to his fate.

Again this was a cracking 50 minutes or so of viewing after fast-forwarding through the adverts. They did a really good job of putting together the highlights packages in those days. You didn't have endless replays of every incident and of course there was none of the tedious studio analysis from the Alan Shearer of the day to waste time in between matches, it was all centred on the action.

Crystal palace v Liverpool 0-0 draw, on next Saturday morning.

The last time there was a proper crowd at Selhurst? Never been the same club since. We were top 6 then (crowds) :sob:

45,583. It was the 6th highest attendance at Selhurst ever. The Wimbledon v Leeds FA Cup replay had an attendance of 45,071 which was the largest attendance for a match which didn't involve us. Nothing to do with this thread, just an knteresting statistic.

Just thought, I hope they don't do the same for the 80/81 season. That was one I'd rather forget.

I think our appearances became less frequent as we sunk to the bottom...we were no longer the interesting new kids in town. I do remember a home defeat against Everton being on and the defeat against Man City billed as the 'Big Mal derby' but that's about it.

I think the 1-0 home win against Man U after Venables had left was on as well

Brighton v Palace on tonight on itv4 at 6.00pm from October 1976.

Yes you're right, the Peter Nicholas goal.

And the 2-1 defeat at home to Ipswich from September 1980.
As well as the 3-2 defeat at home to Man City as someone else mentioned.

Watched 1980 v Liverpool this morning. What a fantastic advert for us, reminding the football world that we were firmly on our way to being relevant even back then (till the customary Palace meltdown). Would urge anyone to catch it on the ITV HUB. Was at the game but spent it chatting to mates and not really absorbing it, so great to see it again. What a keeper Burridge was, what a crowd we used to get for the biggest games (never again) I didn’t realise how easily we could have won this too, even with Fenwick in for Sansom. You’d have thought that would have given us the confidence not to collapse like a pack of cards at that point. Most importantly, my last Palace game without a driving licence

& a 0-3 thrashing at home to that lot from down the A23

Nicholas looking to curl one?

Scousers all over the Holmesdale

Just watched Palace Borough on Big Match catch up - from December 79. My conclusion - surely Vince Hilaire is Wilf's Dad - even down to the temperament!

It's a long time ago now, but I'm pretty sure an early Eagle Eye 'published' my story (or was it a comic strip - can't remember) 'Vince Hilaire and his dissent-inducing afro hair'.

The bench

Most teams have home bench on the right as we did back in 1979 - just watched the Liverpool highlights, its now on the left.

When did it swap?

So Big Match Revisited is rolling straight on to 1980-81…and we are featured! No spoilers but if you know your history you won’t need telling.