A football club’s season is full of many highs and lows.
A couple of injuries and key players’ loss of form can send a club tumbling down the table, while a new signing or an astute managerial change can turn a predicament around.
Supporting a football club is often described as a ‘rollercoaster’ for this very reason. Fans experience a variety of emotions throughout a season, and often even in just single moments.
Despite it being a commonly used cliché, being on a rollercoaster is the perfect analogy for supporting Crystal Palace during the 2015/16 season. An excellent pre-season was followed by a dream start to the league campaign. An exciting early run in the Capital One Cup, including a win over Charlton Athletic, was ended emphatically at Manchester City. Our new signings were playing well, the team had clicked and we were challenging among the Europa League qualification places.
We then, in very Crystal Palace fashion, made it difficult for ourselves. Tumbling downwards towards the relegation places with a worrying run of form that included defeats to the likes of Watford, Aston Villa and Bournemouth.
A fifteenth placed finish has been slightly papered over by an FA Cup run that almost went all the way to an historic victory over Manchester United, however, it just was not meant to be at Wembley. Jason Puncheon gave us a couple of the greatest minutes each of us has ever experienced by latching onto a looping Joel Ward pass and lashing the ball beyond David de Gea, the net bulging and the Palace end erupting into delirium.
Although the game will always be remembered as yet another ‘if only’ moment in our history, the day at Wembley was utterly superb. Puncheon’s goal sparked a willingness to dream, but the forty minutes that followed were emotional and, in the end, we just could not see the game through. It kind of epitomised the whole season.
The successful start to the campaign was ignited in pre-season by the signing of Yohan Cabaye. The Frenchman complemented James McArthur really well in central midfield during the opening stages of the season and was a key part of the early fortunes. Goalkeeper Alex McCarthy was signed from Reading and kept Palace in games at times, but two costly mistakes against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur saw him replaced by Wayne Hennessey in October.
Bakary Sako showed signs of promise early in his Palace career. Scoring the winning goal on his debut against Aston Villa, before being heavily influential in the memorable win against Chelsea, where Palace became just the second team to beat Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge since the Portuguese re-joined the club in 2013.
The final first team signing was Connor Wickham, who was unfortunate to suffer three separate injuries throughout the season, but still offered plenty of spectacular moments. None more so than the FA Cup semi-final winner.
An opening day victory at promoted Norwich City included a debut goal for Yohan Cabaye and gave fans a taste of what was to come for the next three months. A narrow, spirited defeat to Arsenal followed prior to consecutive 2-1 wins against Aston Villa and Chelsea.
The game at Stamford Bridge was the moment everyone realised that something very special could be achieved by the players. We deservedly beat the then champions of England in their own back yard, and we did not need to have ten men behind the ball to do it. We were positive and could easily have been two goals ahead at half time. Sako finally put us in front midway through the second half, but the Blues responded and Radamel Falcao scored a rare Premier League goal.
Palace of the past would have retreated and given everything for what would have been a very good point. But not Pardew’s Palace. Risking defeat in an attempt to win has been a key theme since Pardew arrived, and Joel Ward’s eventual winner at Chelsea exemplified this, with the right back the furthest player forward when he stooped to head home a Sako cut-back.
Right up until Christmas, Palace seemed serious contenders for Europa League qualification. But then it all turned sour. Goals had been a problem for Palace ever since promotion in 2013, but none more so than now. Yannick Bolasie and Connor Wickham suffered injuries in Palace’s win at Stoke City, and the Eagles failed to win another Premier League game until early April.
Pardew added Emmanuel Adebayor to his squad in January, but the Togo international failed to make an impact, despite a superbly executed header against Watford. Although Financial Fair Play regulations were a barrier, Palace should have been more active in the January transfer window to cover the seemingly never ending injury list, but Adebayor remained the only signing.
The lack of depth hindered the Eagles in the second half of the season and the only major highlight was the FA Cup run. Victories against Southampton, Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur and Reading booked a place at Wembley, which resulted in the unforgettable win against Watford.
Bolasie put Palace ahead with a header reminiscent of Pardew’s famous goal against Liverpool in the same round of the competition twenty-six years earlier, but Troy Deeney levelled the score early in the second half. However, Wickham rose high above the Watford defence to head home a goal that put his name into Palace folklore.
Next season offers Pardew the chance to make amends for the second half of the 2015/16 season, and the summer transfer window will be pivotal. A goal scorer and a central defender are vital, while strength in depth is much needed.
A mini overhaul of the playing squad could occur as Pardew plans for the future in SE25, and with the future seeming bright, we could be in for yet another breathtaking season aboard the Palace rollercoaster.
