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.