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Palace Football Club was formed in 1905, and
took its name from the huge glass palace that stood at
the top of Sydenham Hill.
The club played its home fixtures at Crystal Palace until
the start of the First World War, when it moved to Herne
Hill. After the war the club relocated again to The
Nest.
Until 1920 Palace played in the Southern League before
joining the Football League for the 1921 season, winning
the Third Division Championship at the
first attempt.
The club moved again in 1924 to its present home at Selhurst
Park [map], but it was a disastrous first season there as
they were relegated back to Division Three (South). Palace
remained here until the Football League restructured its
divisions in 1958 and the club became a founder member
of the newly formed National League Division Four.
For the next ten years the club gave the fans something
to cheer about by winning promotion, culminating in the
1969 promotion to Division One.
In 1973 under the management of Malcolm Allison the team
was relegated back to Division Two before slipping into
Division Three a year later.
After more failed attempts at promotion, Terry Venables took over the reigns from Allison in 1977 and immediately
gained promotion to the second division. Two seasons later
Palace were back in the top flight, with a young side
that included heroes Kenny Sansom, Billy Gilbert and Vince Hilaire.
However, as seems to be the case with Palace, the club
once again floundered in the top division and were relegated
in 1981. In the same year the club was bought by Ron
Noades.
Under Steve Coppell's management Palace re-established
itself as a force to be reckoned with, winning promotion
to the first division in 1989.
The 1990 season saw the club's first appearance in the FA Cup Final, drawing 3-3 with Manchester
United, before losing 1-0 in the replay.
The following year the team achieved their best ever league
position, finishing third and only missing out on a European
place because English clubs were banned following the
Heysel Stadium disaster. In the same year Palace triumphed
at Wembley when they won the Zenith Data Systems
Cup, beating Everton 4-1.
After another poor season, Palace was relegated at the
end of the 1993 season after losing to Arsenal on the
final day. But as usual the club wasn’t down for
long, as new manager Alan Smith’s team won
promotion at the first time of asking, although they were
relegated again in 1995.
In 1996, after Smith was sacked, Dave Bassett took
the hot seat and led Palace to the play-off final at Wembley
where they lost to a last minute goal from Leicester's
Steve Claridge.
A year later it was Palace’s turn to win the play-off
final with a last-minute goal, David Hopkin curling in a 20-yarder to defeat Sheffield United to secure
a place in the Premiership.
But relegation followed and this in turn led to the darkest
times the club had ever known. Mark Goldberg took over the club from Ron Noades, brought back Terry
Venables and signed a series of highly paid players, who
unfortunately did not achieve on the pitch. The financial
strain of this venture brought Crystal Palace to its knees
and sent the club into administration resulting in the
majority of the top players being sold off.
After a season of despair, the club was finally brought
out of administration in July 2000 following the take
over by mobile phone tycoon Simon Jordan.
Over the next three years the club had a staggering four
managers as the team struggled to hold on to first division
status. However, the appointing of current manager Iain
Dowie in 2004 brought new life to the team resulting in
the dramatic play-off final victory against West Ham United
at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Unfortunately, Palace only lasted one season in the Premiership
and for 2005/06 season are playing in the Coca-Cola Championship.
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