1990/91 season - game by game
 

I thought it might be a bit of fun for old farts like to me to take an extended walk down memory lane and reminisce about the seminal 1990/91 season game by game. Alternatively this could die on its arse if no-one is interested but let’s see. The theory is that I will post up a brief summary of each game a day or two before the 30th anniversary date (hard to believe it’s all 30 years ago), and see what reminiscences people have.

Brief context – this was easily the most successful season in the club’s history with a comfortable third place finish and we were in with a realistic shout of winning the bloody thing until a tonking at the hands of eventual champions Arsenal in late February (spoiler alert). We also won the ZDS Trophy, admittedly something of a Mickey Mouse competition but still fantastic to see us winning at Wembley a year after the FA Cup final heartbreak. 1990/91 was certainly the ‘Zenith’ for this team which Steve Coppell had assembled, a collection of cast-offs and lower league bargains alongide a few astute bigger money signings to strengthen in key areas. From memory, we had brought in three players over the summer. John Humphrey came in at right back to replace the popular John Pemberton, who was shunted off to Sheffield United. Eric Young (or ‘Eric Old’ as some Palace fans labelled the 30 year old) arrived to partner his old Wimbledon mate Andy Thorn in the heart of the defence. And another Wimbledon old boy Glyn Hodges was signed to add some creative flair (or so we thought).

From a personal perspective I had turned 18 in the few days between the FA Cup final first game and replay, and after having spent the early part of the summer immersing myself in Italia 90 and the Madchester vibe, I started my first proper job at the beginning of August in the AMP building adjacent to East Croydon station. So the world was my oyster with proper money in my pocket for the first time.

On we go to the first game then, which was on 25 August 1990 away to Luton Town. Again hard to believe now, but Luton were considered a reasonably established top flight outfit then, having gained promotion under David Pleat in the early 80s and stayed put. They’d even won the League Cup in 1988. The game was played in front of a pathetic crowd of 9,583, caused by the ban on away fans which Luton’s extremist right-winger chairman David Evans had imposed. A number of Palace fans did thought infiltrate the stadium, as could be seen when the goals were shown on TV.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw, our goal coming from debutant Eric Young (from memory, a towering header from a corner??). This was deemed a satisfactory result in our opening game as we looked to build on our 15th place finish (out of 22) in the previous season.

Over to you – what memories of this game, and what were your thoughts and feelings as the new season got underway?

Great idea! I’ve got a scrapbook of paper reports from every game that season, so will try and add them as we go along. It might however just be you and me Bipe. :)

Here is the video of the whole season’s review:





https://s7.gifyu.com/images/9EFCF521...B13A558.md.jpg

https://s7.gifyu.com/images/B2563E79...C22C3D3.md.jpg


Yes, i was one of those that got in under false pretences. A mate managed to get a few membership cards from a guy at work that were basically bought by someone then loaned for a price to away fans throughout the season. There were quite a lot of Palace there, certainly behind one of the goals where we stood.

My memory of the game is that it was a very hot day. Don’t think we played particularly well, just never got started, and recall feeling a little frustrated as we’d led, but at the same time, not too disappointed with an away point. It was Dowie that scored for them right in front of us. As you said it was Ninja’s debut, so off to a fine start. Interesting to note in the match report the line ‘transfer listed John Salako’. I recall him wanting away the season before due to lack of action, but thought that was all sorted after the Cup Final.

As I was only 8 at the time, I cannot really remember the season but will read this thread with great interest. So please don't give up even if it is only 2 of you!

Not football related, but another thing that I’ll always remember from that day was an incident before the game. Got to the ground slightly early and me and my brother and mate were just walking round the ground among the crowd. Spotted a large man in his 50’s/60’s laid out on his back unconscious. Not sure how long he’d been lying there. It was a steaming hot day and looked like he’d had one too many and had passed out, which I guess is what everyone else presumed as the crowds just looked and kept walking by. Soon noticed a few coppers go over and the next an ambulance came. Heard afterwards the guy had collapsed with a heart attack and passed away. Not sure if true or not, but was a sad state of affairs that so many people just walked past and left him lying there presuming he was drunk. Was 17 at the time but still felt guilty afterwards for just taking everyone else’s cue and ignore a man that needed help desperately.

Think life and football has changed considerably since then - or like to think so - and couldn’t see that happening now. It was quite common back then to see people very worse for wear outside a ground.

Thanks Bubbs, that actually sounds similar to the situation my father found himself in last month when he'd wandered into town for a haircut and realised he wasn't going to make it. Luckily a couple of passers by came to his aid and managed to help him home, where he deteriorated and was declared dead about an hour later after immense work from the paramedics to revive him. But I will always be grateful to that couple for taking the time to get him home to be with his wife in his final moments rather than passing away in the street.

Back on topic and I think your scrapbook entries will add some real colour to this thread. Interesting on Salako as my recollection is pretty much the same as yours. He was definitely getting frustrated at the lack of regular game time in the early part of the 89/90 season and he ended up on loan at Swansea where our former assistant Ian Evans was manager. The reports at the time were that this was with a view to a potential permanent transfer. However Ian Wright's leg break in January opened the door for him. I recall that he started up front against Southampton, scored a couple and never really looked back. He certainly played an integral part in both the FA Cup semi and final, playing a more defensive role with great tactical discipline. So it seemed all set up for him to progress in the new season, although I guess the signing of Hodges as a left sided midfielder was a threat to him, albeit that Hodges was a different sort of player and certainly not an out and out winger like Salako.

My condolences :frown:

Yes, condolences Bipe. Never easy times. Glad there was someone there for him to get him home.

I remember the build-up to the game being over-shadowed by the impending war in the Middle East. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was on 2nd August 1990. The Luton match was just 23 days later although in that short period of time, war seemed increasingly likely. It still took another 5 and half months of failed diplomacy for it come down to shooting; there was nothing like the rush to fighting of the 2nd Iraq War. At the time, we weren't as blasé about war in the same way as we've become more recently and it felt like something really bloody serious was brewing. Nowadays these things seem to just blow over us.

It was a pretty uninspiring Luton line-up: Alec CHAMBERLAIN, Tim BREACKER, Dave BEAUMONT, Julian JAMES, John DREYER, David PREECE, Darron McDONOUGH, Ceri HUGHES+(Jason REES), Kingsley BLACK, Lars ELSTRUP, Iain DOWIE •

Not many destined for greatness there. Mr Dowie will of course always hold a modicum of affection in our hearts and scored their equalizer. The one player whose star blazed brightly allbeit briefly was Danish striker Lars Elstrup. Less than 2 years later in the European Championship Finals in Sweden he scored the winner in their group match against France, as a substitute, that put Denmark into the Semi Finals. Then, again as a substitute, he scored one of the penalties in the shoot-out that put Denmark into the Final at the expense of The Netherlands. He didn't appear in the final but qualified for a winner's medal.

It was John Humphrey, Eric Young and Glynn Hodges' Palace debuts. The first 2 were inspired signings at the heart of our defence. Hodges' not so much. If ever a player's style was unsuited to the team's style of play that we were clearly going to persist with then it was him. Unhurried, deliberate, stylish but never on the same wavelength as his team mates and frankly slow. I've never understood what the hell Coppell was thinking of. He was never going to be bombing down the wing for the touchline like archetypical Palace wingers of the era.

And it was Mark Dennis' last ever match for us. Possibly released too early. Richard Shaw eventually proved himself a better left back but when you consider the amount of subsequent matches that Paul Bodin and Lee Sinnott played over the next couple of seasons in that position, it's hard not to think that he should have been given a bit longer. He never let us down.

I see Wikipedia says that Mark Dennis only ever played 9 games for us. To be fair to Coppell his year and a bit at Palace was blighted by injury and he retired because of that aged only 30, so I assume that Coppell wasn't able to select him more often. Certainly in those handful of games as you say he still looked a good player.

If memory serves didn't Dave Madden also make a brief appearance off the bench in this Luton game? Would have been one of his final appearances in a Palace shirt too.

You are right about that Luton line up. A personal footnote about Kingsley Black - I started following Grimsby Town a fair bit in the mid 1990s after meeting my now wife, who was born and bred there. Kingsley ended up there after his big money move to Forest never really worked out. In 1998 they did a Wembley 'double', winning both the Autoglass Trophy (or whatever incarnation it had in that season) and the league one play off final. The Autoglass game was against Bournemouth including a certain Eddie Howe in midfield, Kingsley scored the equaliser before the Mariners won it with an extra time golden goal.

PS the Bournemouth side also included Jimmy Glass, Jamie Vincent and Ian Cox.

Ahh Dave Madden. Had a look at my stats from that time and Madden didn’t play that day, in fact his last appearance for us ended up being the Cup Final replay. Mark Dennis was our only substitute against Luton, coming on for Hodges. O’Reilly was an unused substitute.

I do know Madden soon joined Maidstone and presume that was at the start of the season as he doesn’t feature in the team photo taken at the start of the campaign.

https://s7.gifyu.com/images/14CC7069...AC2C6A5.md.jpg

My abiding memory/ies of that game was the Palace fans, not just the number but the fact the vast majority had been situated together, not even attempting to conceal the fact; it was almost as if those actually having to manage the away fans ban had just jacked it in and decided to do their own thing. Andy Thorn was pissing himself laughing at the cheer that went up when the team came out.

Fantastic memories. Please keep them coming!

Sorry for your troubles, Bipe. And fair play to that couple for getting your father home.

Great thread. My season ticket was at the very back of Block V in the AW at this time so I'll follow it with interest and chip in now and again. I wasn't at the Luton away game though.

Can one of those that have the info add a team sheet for each game?
And, did the papers give ratings for each player at the time?

I recollect that three of us managed to get tickets at the ground, on production of just one membership card, so I don't know what sort of limit there was on tickets you could get, maybe four. I borrowed the membership card from a Chelsea supporting work colleague and I think it was common practice among the fans supporting London clubs to pass the cards around in order to beat the ban. My son got the tickets at the ground, whilst me and my mate were in the pub. He was about 18 at the time, whereas the dob on the card related to someone aged 27, so I don't think any serious id checks were made.

I did try to Google the line ups for the match without success. Looks like Bubbs and Elwiss have access to better quality info though, so hopefully we can rely on them for this aspect which I think would be interesting (both our side and the opponents).

I saw Madden a month later in a Gills v Maidstone Kent derby. Best player on the pitch. I was in the Gills end but I had no beef with Maidstone, unlike every other Gills fan, which made it awkward when I applauded a typical piece of Madden class. I kept shtum after that! :D

I was on holiday for the Chelsea home game but went to the Sheffield United game on the Saturday - remember being pleased with the way Glyn Hodges played in that game - thought he had a touch of class about him, but that ended up being incorrect.

Thank you thank you thank you - just one of my best ever seasons as an 18 year old supporter and to have this as a running thread will be great!
I never understood why Pembo and Madden were jettisoned - Pembo could be a bit loose at the back but offered loads going forward (PVA?). Madden and Mrs Coppell was a rumour back then.
Any ITK?

I loved Madden, he was my favourite player but was scratching my head as to why we let him go and why he went so far down the leagues to join Maidstone. I had no knowledge of his battered knees and in those days such information wasn't readily available.

Yes - as with Mark Dennis, a look at his career stats tells all. Well under 100 appearances in total and his spell with us saw the most games of any club with just 27. Drifted out of the game well before he turned 30. Such a shame as he was a class act.

Getting Humphrey (Charlton's best player) off them when they went down was great fun. I went to see us at QPR early on in the season and came away thinking that there wasn't much wrong with the performance that day.

Probably my favourite ever season. I'd just come back to London after a year away at college and was starting work. Saw loads of games. The football was often absolute shite, and the attendances were crap, but winning games in the top flight, and looking like we belonged, was so exciting.

My season started before the Luton game went to a pre season friendly at Uxbridge well not actually Uxbridge because they dont play there. Arrived late for kick off which was fine as it had not kicked off as the team bus was late as well. It was a team packed with reserves and Glynn Hodges and he certainly did not look fit. Had the feeling he was being played to get some much needed match fitness. Memories are it ended in a draw though i could be wrong.
Luton living in N Herts was easy membership card and ticket. We looked ok Big Eric putting us on front. Then conceding to Dowie was not the worse nor best start. Little did I know then what the season was going to be and I suspect nor did many that day. We were certainly better than the previous season but how good was still to come.
Pembo replaced by Humphrey payment of rent from Charlton being one theroy. True Pembo gave us so much but Humphrey was a class above that defensively. With Thorn and Young we had 4 of the 5 at the back that made us so atrong.
The midfield lacked only one though Salako shone during the season so on that first day we had the central two and still trying to find the wide men. The forward line was sorted no issues. So we had the spine of a side it was width at left back and both wings. A 442 formation. We played it long because the quality out wide was missing. Hodges did not at that game like at Uxbridge did not look the answer.

I`ve pretty much got every press report from 1978 to about 2007

Just to augment the memory lane vibe I'll share which singles were moving into the UK top ten each week as the season progresses.

For the week ending 25 August there were only two new entrants in the top ten:

Praying For Time by George Michael - mournful ballad which showcased his chops as a 'serious artist', not my cup of tea if I'm honest with you.

Where Are You Baby? by Betty Boo - delightful bubblegum rap / pop and the biggest hit of young Betty's career. The video had her rather snazzily dressed up in space gear for a Star Trek pastiche storyline if memory serves.

Your first paragraph is very sad.

Sorry for your loss:frown:

Dave Madden's final Palace appearance was as a sub in the FA Cup Final replay. And no colonel, the rumours about him falling out of favour with the management weren't true. Those sort of stories about players who are popular with the fans being surprisingly left out of the team are as old as the hills and have circulated at most clubs at one time or another. The problem was what had happened to his knees, not another appendage.

You did ask....

Think it was bs but I will tell you this story. Around a couple of months before the Cup Final I was at the training ground. Would go a lot back then. Like a lot of Palace fans at the time, we were totally bemused why Coppell wasn’t picking Madden and of course the rumours were doing the rounds. Ended up having a good chat with Madden that day and told him how gutted I was and many of the fans too, that he wasn’t being picked. He was appreciative and said he was obviously gutted too and didn’t have a clue why. Just before our conversation came to an end he said with a huge grin and twinkle in his eye, ‘I mean what have I done to not be included? Shagged Coppell’s Mrs or something!’ I kind of half giggled but couldn’t believe he’d said it. I’m sure he’d heard the rumours too and was having a joke about it....or was he?

Luton 1 Palace 1

Palace: Martyn. Humphrey. Shaw. Gray. Young. Thorn. Barber. Thomas. Salako. Wright. Hodges. Subs: Dennis (Hodges). O’Reilly.

Haven’t got Luton’s side sorry. *edit* just seen Mad Max’s report. All there :p

Funny you should mention George Michael. Bit embarrassed to admit it as my musical tastes are quite divorced from the kind of Wham/George music he produced, but was a fan of his work right from the start. I had a dilemma that involved him and a certain Palace match this very season, but I’ll leave the story till the game comes up.

That Luton game was the only one I didnt go to that season. We even drove to Luton but couldnt find the ground and, as we didnt have tickets anyway, drove up to Northampton and watched them instead.

Great idea to celebrate and reflect on the 30th anniversary of this our most successful season.

I remember thinking we would improve going into the season and thought we might be good for top 10 but would never have guessed the run we would go on.

Luton away was one of the few games I missed that season for obvious reasons but being glad it was our first fixture as I was committed to going to the Reading music festival that weekend. Happy days.

Where was Brighty for that game?

Haha I can well believe he said that!

This was my first season as a season ticket holder (block R or the Arthur next to the corrugated sheets at the side) at the age of 14. I was besotted by Palace and everything about them. My walls plastered in paper cut outs from the cup semi still and I can picture my bedroom like it was yesterday. I had a white cabin bed like children do and even that had stickers of Palace. My recollection of I wasn’t at the Luton game though but still vividly remember the opening game on my VHS season video. I will take a keen interest in this thread as I too relive my youth.

Likewise my first season as a season ticket holder - think that would have been the case for many, thanks to Uncle Ron's ruse of allowing people to 'jump the queue' for cup final tickets by buying a season ticket for next year at the same time. Certainly that was the only reason I purchased one, I'd have been quite happy continuing to pay my few quid at the gate every match day otherwise.

Yes It was my 1st season as a STH too for that reason.

Sorry to hear you news Bipe.

This was the first season I was to travel away on a regular basis as well as having a season ticket in the Arthur. I did not go to Luton though as they were unpopular due to their.membership scheme and didn't try to get in.

25th August 1990

Historical Events
Li Hui Rong of China sets triple jump woman's record (47'8½")
UN security council authorizes military action against Iraq

Famous Deaths
Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (b. 1903)

Top 5 songs in the UK

Partners In Kryme: Turtle Power
DNA featuring Suzanne Vega: Tom's Diner
Bombalurina: Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
Blue Pearl: Naked In The Rain
MC Hammer: U Can't Touch This

Great idea for a thread.

My ST was in block V of the AW, about row 18 so halfway up the lower part, and roughly in line with the edge of the centre circle. High enough to get a great view unobstructed by the TV gantry / low enough to still get wet when the wind blew the rain under the roof.

Nice new home kit, with the all red or all blue away kits, with good new "straight into the first team" signings in EY and JH. With our best ever GK (in my opinion) at one end, and our best ever striker at the other, and great players in between, there was a great post-Cup Final optimism around, and it was a wonderful time to be a Palace fan.

I wasn't at the Luton game, didn't even try to go as would have just assumed I wouldn't get in. From memory, didn't they still have a plastic pitch back then?

Yes, surprised no one's mentioned it yet. The plastic pitch was still there which always made it difficult for away sides. The pitch never ran predictably and the ball bounced higher than it would on grass, which made for a scrappy match.

How teams were still allowed to play on that surface was a joke, when it was blatantly obvious it gave the home side a huge advantage. Nigh on every club that put artificial turf in in the 80's saw a massive upsurge in their form. For those too young to remember, these surfaces were nothing like the 4G types we see today. The ball would bounce ridiculously high and players would literally come off with third degree burns from sliding on the surface.

Bright missed the first couple of games of the season through injury. Not actually sure what the injury was but he returned to the squad for the third game of the season against Sheffield Utd.

In typical Coppell style, he didn't automatically walk back in the team and replace Gary Thompson, but had to sit it out on the bench for a bit. In fact, he didn't make his first start until seven games in in the 8-0 demolition of Southend in the cup.

As it is the first game of the season, I'll list the incoming and outgoings that summer and the squad we started with.


SIGNINGS

ERIC YOUNG from Wimbledon. £850,000
JOHN HUMPHREY from Charlton. £450,000
GLYN HODGES from Watford. £410,000


SOLD

JOHN PEMBERTON to Sheffield Utd £300,000
DAVE MADDEN to Maidstone Utd. Free
DAVID BURKE to Bolton W. £60,000
CHRIS POWELL to Southend. Free




CRYSTAL PALACE FIRST TEAM SQUAD 1990/91

Nigel Martyn
Perry Suckling

Richard Shaw
Mark Dennis
John Humphrey
Jeff Hopkins
Gary O'Reilly
Andy Thorn
Eric Young

Andy Gray
Glyn Hodges
Eddie McGoldrick
Alan Pardew
Geoff Thomas
Rudi Hedman
Phil Barber
John Salako
Alex Dyer

Mark Bright
Ian Wright
Gary Thompson

Manager: Steve Coppell
Asst: Ian Branfoot

That will hardly go down as a classic top five will it. A couple of out and out novelty songs, one that may as well have been (MC Hammer with his trademark ultra-baggy trousers) and in Blue Pearl a song which will only ever get played on Absolute Radio 90s. The only track with any real credibility is the DNA one.

Funnily enough my first boss at work used to whistle the 'do do do do, do-do do do' sample from that incessantly. He went off one weekend to do a parachute jump, broke his leg and never came back, it was the last we ever saw of him.

Unrelated, but am I right in thinking Preston also had a plastic pitch? Didn't players also wear tracksuit bottoms as the bastard pitch would strip your legs of skin?


PS - Sorry for your loss, Bipe.

Four English clubs: QPR, Preston, Luton and Oldham installed the astro turf, and coincidentally, overnight, they all saw a dramatic turn and rise in form.

QPR were first to go plastic, in the 81/82 season when they were in the 2nd Division. By the end of 87/88, when football legislation ruled against top flight clubs having it; QPR had won promotion to Div 1 within 2 seasons - where they remained; reached 2 Cup Finals and qualified for Europe!

Luton had there pitch installed in 85/86. Got to the FA Cup semi final that season - being drawn at home every round; finished the first few years exclusively in the top half of Division 1 and winning the League Cup in the process. They were finally relegated in 91/92: the season after their artificial turf had to go.

Oldham had theirs between 86-91 and coincided with a massive turn in fortunes. A mediocre 2nd division side at the time, they finished 3rd in their first season with it - missing out on promotion in the play offs but finally won promotion in '91. Also reached the League Cup Final and FA Cup semi final.

Preston had theirs installed in 1986 when in Division 4 and were probably least successful. However, they still won promotion in their first season on plastic, and reached the 3rd division play offs two years later.

Luton away
Debut goal for Young 15 mins into his debut, flicking home a Hodges free kick. Vaguely remember Luton equalising a couple of minutes before the break Iain Dowie coming in at the back post. Luton were the better team but after being defensively weak for much of 89/90 you could see the presence Young/Humphrey made to the back line.

• Partners in Kryme "Turtle Power" was no 1 at the time as TMNT mania descended on the UK

https://www.cpfc.org/forums/attachme...1&d=1598441968

Tuesday August 28th 1990 - Chelsea Home

No 1 - Bombalurin "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" (incredibly annoying song fronted by Timmy Mallet)


Three days later we entertained Chelsea on a Tuesday night at a packed Selhurst (for those of you at the game, away fans always seemed to filter into the home terracing) Think we averaged about 16,000 that season but there must have been 25k+ at the game.

We went one up early on when David Lee handled in his box, and Gray rifled the resulting penalty past Dave "Salad Cream" Beasant in front of the Holmesdale terrace.
Gray clashed with Wise 10 mins later on the touch line close to the AW and both were players were sent off. From memory Gray went in with his studs showing and Wise reacted and there was a coming together. This may (or may not) have been Wise's debut for Chelsea after a big summer move from Wimbledon. Shortly after Gray departed Le Saux and Wilson were trying to antagonise Thomas shortly and Thorn cleaned one of them out with a tackle. :D
We were such a powerful unit, direct and moved the ball well and you could see Salako was growing into a real talent. The second goal is up there with one of the best goals I've seen at Selhurst. Humphrey won the ball close to the touch line and played a ball up top, Wrights first touch was majestic as it pushed him away from Erland Johnsen then he cut outside opening up space away from the defender and with Beasant coming off his line his chipped it over the stranded keeper, truly a beautiful individual goal. Chelsea got a late reply from Dorigo (decent effort) but we looked really comfortable and physically bullied Chelsea whilst playing some good stuff.


https://www.cpfc.org/forums/attachme...1&d=1598443570

https://www.cpfc.org/forums/attachme...1&d=1598443604

Squad Photo

https://www.cpfc.org/forums/attachme...1&d=1598444070

Skip at home to Chelsea (I purchased a load of official press photos from 90/91 many years ago, so i'll try and dig them out)

https://www.cpfc.org/forums/attachme...1&d=1598444252

Skip (either Coventry at home/Liverpool at home)
https://www.cpfc.org/forums/attachme...1&d=1598444418

Skip at home to Wimbledon

https://www.cpfc.org/forums/attachme...1&d=1598444499

That Ian Wright goal was something else I recall. As chips go, It was pure textbook stuff and Beasant was no midget either.

https://youtu.be/Pif5CHE4z6o

Skip to 4.40.

What a goal that was

All the slags in the home end. :veryangry

It was such a good goal that some fans went on the pitch if I remember correctly.

Warm evening IIRC. Electric atmosphere

Just before Wright scored look out for the absolutely wild lash of a non-connecting reckless tackle by Le Saux. I think a player might get booked for intent or dangerous play in today's game.

The Wise Gray sending off. Is that where Gray went looking for him after the red cards, and Wise ran away like a little clucking chicken.

That was an absurd assist from John Humphrey for the Wright goal v Chelsea. Beautiful crossfield pass

Yes.

My memory of it was that Wise was giving it the biggun, thinking that he'd be safe and when Gray fronted up to him scuttled off towards (what he thought was) the safety of the tunnel. Unfortunately for him, he'd forgotten that we'd moved the tunnel to the corner, and so while he walked along the touchline from the bench, Gray took the direct route to the corner, gesticulating at Wise, and beckoning him towards him the whole way.

Reminiscent to Mark Dennis/Dave Madden offering Fashanu out at Plough Lane at the back end of the 89/90 season. Dennis wanted to take on most of the Wimbledon team that night. Miss those days.
:supergrin:

Palace 2 Chelsea 1

Martyn Humphrey Shaw Gray Young Thorn Salako Thomas Thompson Wright Hodges. Subs: Barber (for Hodges) Hedman (unused)


https://s7.gifyu.com/images/676577FE...DD6E7D9.md.jpg

https://s7.gifyu.com/images/8E40F79D...231722D.md.jpg

https://s7.gifyu.com/images/60195672...474A898.md.jpg

https://s7.gifyu.com/images/FD7E5289...9D76756.md.jpg

https://s7.gifyu.com/images/38903F93...C24D278.md.jpg

https://s7.gifyu.com/images/E0767EBA...95A1879.md.jpg

https://s7.gifyu.com/images/2D35570F...24B7163.md.jpg

And for those of you who didn't hear these in the summer, here's the link to the games that were being played at this point in the 1990-91 season

https://soundcloud.com/user-45621062...-match-reports

This was a landmark victory for me and hinted at the special season ahead. This was the first time we’d beaten Chelsea at home since 1973 when Jim Cannon scored on his debut. I’d been following Palace since the late 70’s and I’d seen us play Chelsea numerous times home and away and not seen us beat them. I missed the midweek away victory in the early 80’s.

For a Palace supporting Croydon boy, Chelsea were the bane of your life. Always lording it over you and attracted those that wanted to be associated to a club with a hard reputation on the terraces. I was ecstatic after this game. My older brother was one of the many to buy a season ticket in the Arthur in order to secure a Cup Final ticket, so unfortunately we watched the home games apart, but recall meeting up with him after the game and jumping on each other in delight as if we’d got to Wembley or something.

The game under the Selhurst lights just had an electrifying sizzle about it and the Gray/Wise incident just set the atmosphere alight. There seemed to be bad blood between the players. Two seasons before in Div 2 in this fixture at Selhurst, there was another mass melee in the middle of the park with both sets of players pushing out at each other.

Wright’s second - the sublime chip - was probably in the top 3 highlights of this season for me. Just pure genius.

The warmth that evening was great. In fact it was in a run of three seasons where our first home game was under the lights on a hot August Tuesday night (United 89, this 90, Wimbledon 91) and the atmosphere for all three was top notch,

Thanks to all those who have offered good wishes above, and to those who have saved me the bother of introducing the second game of the season.

So my memories of 28 August 1990…unlike the opener at Luton this was definitely a game to get the juices flowing, a midweek fixture under the Selhurst lights against London rivals. The equivalent fixture in the previous season had been on Boxing Day and it turned out to be a good old ding-dong London derby, a then virtually unknown Graeme Le Saux popping up off the bench to grab a last minute equaliser for the West London scum in a 2-2 draw.

There was a good sense of anticipation en route to the stadium on a sultry evening, none of us expected us to do as well in the season ahead as things turned out but there was a genuine feeling of optimism that this was a team still on the up after proving last year that we belonged in the top flight. There was also some residual goodwill in the air from our run to the cup final (yes for younger readers, that was still a big deal back then).

As already noted Chelsea were parading their new record signing Dennis Wise, everyone’s favourite cheeky cockney scamp. Also worth noting that one of our Team of the 80s alumni Peter Nicholas made a rare start alongside Wise in the midfield – by then he was approaching the veteran stage of his career and he had fallen well down the pecking order at Chelsea. One of the blokes stood near us on the Holmesdale spent the evening mercilessly barracking Nicholas, mainly on account of his by then rapidly receding hairline which this guy clearly found hilarious.

The penalty for our opening goal was a weird one, David Lee electing to elbow the ball clear from alongside his body when there appeared to be no imminent danger. Andy Gray converted in typical master blaster fashion, fast run up and lamp it as hard as he could in the general direction of the goal. Others have already waxed lyrical about Wright’s goal and rightly so, it was a sublime finish. This season turned out to be the one when he unleashed his full repertoire of finishes and you could see that he was oozing self belief and confidence. Although Chelsea pulled one back we held on reasonably comfortably.

So 4 points from the opening 2 games, and with another promising fixture on paper coming up at home to Sheffield United, it seemed that things certainly were on the up as we made our way back to Selhurst station.

An early mention from me here for Andy Gray, who turned out to have a phenomenal season for us. I still regard him as the most 'Palace' player we've ever had in terms of his attitude and style of play, I absolutely loved him and still do despite the sticky end to his time with us. Plenty more mentions to come though as the season progresses.

For the stats

The spat between Andy Gray and Dennis Wise happened in front of us in the AW stand, but apart from that and Ian Wright's magnificent chip over Beasant I can't really remember much else about the game to be honest - I didn't even remember the first goal was an early AG penalty, nor that Mark Bright was out injured. Tony Dorigo always seemed to play well against us though, so it's no great surprise it was him that scored their goal.

As Eric Young from memory scored right behind the goal there is Robbie Tobin, Dave Illingworth and Myself jumping up!

"A number of Palace fans did thought infiltrate the stadium, as could be seen when the goals were shown on TV".

The Chelsea game happened in a new chart week so here are that week's new entrants into the top 10:

Four Bacharach & David Songs EP by Deacon Blue - pretentious twaddle which somehow got as high as number 2 on the charts in the following week.

Can Can You Party by Jive Bunny - the annoying rabbit was on his last legs by now and this track only had a solitary week in the top ten as the novelty waned. Can't remember it at all but clearly it had the Can Can somewhere in the mix.

Silhouettes by Cliff Richard - the song title means nothing to me and I cannot tell you anything about it, mercifully I'm sure. But it sneaked in at number 10 and never got any higher.

I was enrolled at City Poly for that season doing a degree I didn't want to do but there were no jobs. I hated it and spent my time following Palace instead and dropped out of Poly.

What a wonderful season, but it's a blur really.

Wow - I was still into the charts at this point but don't remember the Cliff Richard and Deacon Blue songs. Jive Bunny novelty wore off for me after the first song in Summer 89 but impressively they managed three number ones in about four months at the end of 89. By 1990, the gimmick was fading as you say.

We were about to get The Joker by Steve Miller Band to number one around this time, back in the days when whatever song was on the Levi's TV advert was pretty much guranteed to top the chart. Kids now have barely even heard of Levi's let along buying the record that was on the advert!!

I think that's a 10 year old me at the front of the Whitehorse in the gap between the fencing right at the end of Wright's goal. I know I was stood there at least!

The lead track on the EP was I'll Never Fall In Love Again, which they slowed down in tempo and reworked as an artsy piano ballad. I wasn't a fan. It was the high water mark for them though, after that their status and popularity gradually started to wane and they split up in the mid 90s.

Most if not all were there officially. The Junior eagles had played a series of games against Young Luton fans in the morning and as part of the package that day where given match tickets. My two boys were playing and along with a number of the other boys parents were able to watch the game. I have some great photo's of Alan Smith talking to some of the boys during the pre match warm up. He was very surprised to see a largish group of Palace fans at the game, but thankful.

This was one of a number of similar initiatives with youngsters both home and away that season. The Leeds away later that season was an interesting day. It had been very bad weather up in Yorkshire and the mornings matches had to be cancelled. Instead Leeds arranged a subutteo tournament in the morning in their family stand enclosure lounge. We had a great day right up to our late winner from Geoff Thomas. However as the game finished a group of Leeds blokes in the enclosure started abusing the children and one nice chap spat at some of the kids. The Leeds officials (who had been great all day) could not apologises enough and promised that the culprits would have their season tickets removed. Apparently these Charlie's had purchased family tickets at the reduced rate but did not take children with them (it was suspected the children were made up) just to take advantage of the cheaper tickets.

Then reformed in 99 and are still touring.

I definitely remember a largish group down the side, did they have some sort of benches or something lower part of their 'main' stand?

As for 'most if not all there officially' far from the case mate. There were a load in their covered terrace behind the goal. I was slightly cautious about getting in on a borrowed ID, but this went out the window on the Thameslink from EC as it was obvious many were travelling. Nodded to plenty of people I recognised whilst on the terrace - didn't hide the celebration for the goal and vaguely even remember a few 'eagles' filling the air :hi::p

Similar to a few on here, my coming of age season, money in the pocket, excitement to be had, bloody good football to follow! Went to every game except Sunderland away (had travel booked, but a late night incident the night before put pay to that). Gutted I never completed the full H&A, but god we were good.

Just seen this thread.
Palace’s and my best season. Did every league game home and away this year despite not having a season ticket!!
Left school at 16 and started my apprenticeship and went to Luton with a mate and no tickets after arranging to stay with two females we had met on holiday who lived in Stevenage (nearest to Luton in our young eyes) . Remeber asking Luton fans if they would get us a ticket each and got standard reply of “sorry mate,already got some of your lot in” Eventually got recognised by an older Palace lad who had a handful of ID cards :D and he sorted us out two terrace tickets behind the goal.
Both said keep quiet if we score which went out the window when the ninja scored and we found out the four blokes behind us were Palace too!!
Went for a night out in Stevenage after,then home the next day.
Cannot remember anything about Chelsea other than a scorching hot night and Wright’s goal.

I always manage to forget this happened. He just wasn't going to get in our team but a real talent lost all the same, not that anyone knew at the time.

When you think of him, Colleymore, Coleman, Southgate, Osborne and Rodger, plus Armstrong a year later, there was a second wave there that could’ve sustained things even after Wright left. Shaw and Salako were still early 20’s. It just seem to fall apart though.

So this was the fun trip in an Datsun Sunny 120Y. Left work to drive to my first midweek fixture with my first season ticket since the kids were born. I missed out some of the 80s due to being skint. Mortgage Rates at all time high. However promotion at work and spare cash from a hard few months overtime. Time to get a season ticket.
Holmesdale End by the Old Stand up by the floodlight me and my long suffering friend settled in for the first home game of the season.
It was a cracker playing a derby always adds an edge and this game was packed with hard tackles. More importantly despite the sending offs we played some great football. On a summer night it was the perfect game to kick off the home season. We looked in control settled well and dominated.
A start with 4 points on the board.
It also settled a series of superstitions. Pie and Chips from the chinese chippy on Whitehorse Lane. A first goal scorer bet on Ninja. The sanme place on the terrace. Same route from N Herts.
Still despite the impressive start no idea what was to come. However 4 points was a great start. Ended the night dropping mate off in Clapham and then home via Vauxhall Bridge Marble Arch Lords Finchley Road A1.

Not to mention Southend must have thought we were one dumb**** club at the time

Not when we’d tanked them 8-0 a few weeks later!

We move on to the third game of the season, a 1-0 home win against Sheffield United on 1 September. They had just arrived into the top flight on the back of two successive promotions under the tutelage of Dave 'route one' Bassett. Brian Deane and Tony Agana up top had scored plenty the previous year (Deane really did hang around the scene for a long time didn't he).

At this stage the Blades were just embarking on a spectacularly bizarre season and possibly the mother of all turnarounds, eclipsing what we achieved under Pulis a few years back. They failed to win any of their first 16 games and by Christmas Day they had accumulated a truly pathetic four points. Relegation looked an absolute foregone conclusion. But then they suddenly won seven games on the bounce and never looked back, ending the season in a comfortable 13th position (out of 22).

I remember little of this game but the goal was a trademark bullet header from Garry Thompson, feeding off another John Humphrey cross. I liked Thompson, who was an astute signing towards the end of the previous season. Initially Coppell had drafted him in to deputise for Ian Wright while he was out with his broken leg and he scored the winner against Villa four minutes into his debut. He would have known that both Wright and Bright were as close as you're ever going to get to automatic picks up front but when he did play he always seemed to be really up for it, had a fantastic attitude. His style of play was a sort of hybrid of the two, strong with his back to goal and good in the air but also a powerful runner with the ball at his feet.

I cannot remember if Pembo played for the Blades in this game, soon after his summer departure, but I assume he must have done.

So three games in and we were sitting pretty on seven points with plenty to look forward to. The crowd for this one was 16,831, over 10,000 down on the midweek game against Chelsea. Back in those days it was still quite unusual to get above 20,000 except for the London derbies and the games against the top sides.

Still frustrated we couldn’t play Thompson in the cup final despite him being on our books (but cup tied for about a 5 mins appearance) whereas Sealey on loan was fine...
Thought he was great and in another era would have become a legend for us I’m sure

Didn't go to that many games, that wonderful season, but I was at this one.
Really just remember a great cross from John Humphrey and a powerful header from Garry Thompson. And Johnny Pemberton did play and got a good reception from the Palace crowd.
Such a long time ago, but I recall it being a pretty comfortable 1-0 and that Sheff Utd looked nailed on to struggle but as already pointed out, they made a pretty astonishing recovery.
Oh yes, I thought Thompson was great for us, as well - never let us down, on the rare occasion he got a game.

The stand out for me in this game was we should of been 1 0 down and today we would ofbeen. Brian Deane scored a perfectly good goal with a header at the far post from my position. It clearly just sneaked in but was cleared and the ref waved play on. Why and how i dont know but we took advantage. So the first table we were riding high. Though it was hard after this game to see it was going to last. Put the Luton game in and though we had the points and played well midweek we still looked alittle short of being a good side.
Time changed that view......

I was at the game, but don't remember anything about it (I fear this may be a recurring comment...) I only know it was a good Garry Thompson header after a prodigious leap because I watched the season review video quite recently.

Palace 1 Sheff U 0

Palace: Martyn. Humphrey. Shaw. Gray. Young. Thorn. Salako. Thomas. Thompson. Wright. Hodges. Subs: Barber (for Hodges). Bright (for Thompson)

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A bit late but i just wanted to chip in with what a goal that was by Wrighty against Chelsea. One of those ecstatic moments you get at a football ground.

Like the others, I can’t remember much from this one. What I do recall is of course the return of Pembo. As they were a newly promoted side without a win in their first two, you went into this thinking we could give them a bit of a lesson, but in the end there was a feeling of relief to get the win as it was a lot closer than hoped.

Interesting inside info from Noades after the game concerning our signing of Eric Young plus his plans for renovating Selhurst. Some things never change.

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On the Monday after the game, Graham Taylor named his first England squad. Nigel Martyn is called up and Wright is on stand by. Why only on stand by God only knows but I guess Steve Bull, plying his trade for a mid table 2nd division side, was a better bet.

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Didn’t Sheffield Utd have a horribly bright away shirt for this?? Vaguely remember them wearing one??

You mean like the one in the pictures from the game posted just 3 posts before yours? :p

I did see that but always thought it was a bit more laity than that :p

You are right but it was actually the following season when they rocked up in their fluorescent yellow number. Not this game.

Stood on the Whitehorse it looked like th away end was full of coppers. Dortmund had a particularly bright yellow shirt this season (I owned one despite not being a Dortmund fan) but the Sheff Utd one was easily the brightest in the English game at this point.

Hate to admit it but Steve Bull scored over 100 goals in two seasons (Divs 4 & 3) ; scored on England debut, scored at least one other for England that I can recall and was generally feared as a top striker. Obviously Wrighty was as well but Bull wasn't exactly deadwood at that time.

Those pics of the Sheff Utd don't highlight just how bright it was. Maybe it was overcast at the time of the photos but certainly at the start of the match it was sunny and they were practically glowing!

"There is no club bigger than us" Noades

Gotta love it. Not quite sure that was true - LOL. I still remember that article in 1988-89 in Palace News and believing that a) Palace would be the ones to make the Big 5 the Big 6 as he put it and that by ourcentenary in 2005 we'd be playing at Crystal Palace Park in a mega stadium.

Didn't quite turn out like that!

By the end of this game, Palace had scored 4 goals of which two had been created by sublime crossfield assists from new RB John Humphrey. He quietly came in and went about his business.