Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace was founded in 1905 as The Crystal Palace, but they were not allowed entry into the Football League until 1958. It took them 11 years to get from the bottom rung of English football to the top flight. Their home, Selhurst Park, was opened in 1924, and 25,000 fans watched the inaugural match against Sheffield Wednesday.

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Palace are a team that have yo-yoed between the top two leagues. Their highest ever position was third in the First Division in 1990-1991, and they were also beaten FA Cup finalists in 1990. However, they have won the Second Division twice, in the 1978-1979 and 1993-1994 seasons. 

Former Manchester United player Steve Coppell is arguably Crystal Palace's greatest manager. Under his tutelage, they reached the FA Cup final in 1990. With the Eagles 2-1 down to Manchester United, he made an inspired substitution and sent on Ian Wright, who equalised, taking the game into extra time. Wright then put the Eagles ahead but they couldn't hold on, as Mark Hughes equalised in the 113th minute. In the subsequent replay United beat Palace 1-0. Bar the remarkable FA Cup run, Coppell also won two play-off finals, in 1989 and 1997.

Selhurst Park has been home to some outstanding players, none more so than Ian Wright. Many remember Wright for his time at Arsenal, but for Palace he was just as prolific, with 90 goals in 225 games. Another forward popular in Croydon is Andy Johnson, who scored 32 goals to get Palace promoted in 2005 and his 21 goals in the subsequent 2005-2006 Premier League were nearly enough to keep Palace up. In all, Johnson scored 75 goals in 145 games. Former England international Nigel Martyn became the first £1million goalkeeper when he moved to the club from Bristol Rovers. He went on to play 272 times for the club before moving to Leeds for another record fee, £2.25million.

Due to the close proximity of other clubs in London, Palace have numerous rivals, yet their biggest rivals are Brighton, against whom they play in the hotly contested M23 Derby. This rivalry came about in an FA Cup tie when the referee, Ron Challis, ordered Brighton to retake a successful penalty due to Palace's players encroaching. As you may have guessed, the retaken penalty was missed and Palace ended up winning the game by a single goal.

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