The fourth and final part of the fantastic article from our friends at Licence To Roam about the Australian players that have played for Palace.
Nick Carle
The Sydney born attacking midfielder joined Palace for a notable fee of £1 million from Bristol City in 2008. Palace manager at the time, Neil Warnock, convinced him to join the Eagles, after having only spent 6 months with Bristol.
The creative Carle had a decent stay with Crystal Palace, but despite being capable of brilliance in attack and possessing excellent technique, he often lacked consistency in his displays. The long-haired Aussie’s best moments included a ripping volley against Sheffield United, and also a beautiful 20 yard strike against Swansea. Despite not showing his quality as often as he would’ve liked, he still succeeded in playing 58 times and scoring 4 goals during his time in South London.
Carle was later released by the club in May 2010 with 2 years still remaining on his contract, and he subsequently returned home, signing as Sydney FC’s marquee player on a 3 year deal worth a reported $1.95 million Australian dollars.
Carle currently still plays in Sydney, but he has certainly been a gatherer of frequent flyer points throughout his career, having played in France, Turkey and the UAE to go with his English spell.
Carle, on his day, is an absolute joy to watch, which led to him receiving the honour of A-League Player of the Season in 2006, whilst at the Newcastle Jets. He also won goal of the year in the same season. The cultured midfielder has somehow only featured 13 times for his country, with his lack of regular club football costing him dearly at times, as it has meant that Socceroos coaches have been unwilling to pick him. This was regrettably the case in 2010, as he missed out on being selected for the World Cup.
The Aussie, who is of Chilean and Uruguayan descent, is now 31, but still has plenty of excellent football ahead of him, as he will be looking forward to lighting up the upcoming season of the A-League with Sydney FC, which kicks off in around a month.
Mile Jedinak
The current Crystal Palace captain has been a terrific signing for the club since joining on a free in 2011 from Turkish side Gençlerbirliği. Jedinak was instrumental in Palace’s successful promotion run last season, as the tough tackling midfielder set a magnificent example for his teammates through his physical and combative playing style. These quality performances earned him Crystal Palace’s player of the year award, taking out the honour just ahead of prolific goalscorer Glenn Murray.
The Australian international began his professional career back in 2001 with NSW PL outfit Sydney United, where he became a first team regular. His time with United also included an interesting loan spell to the nation of his origin, where in 2004, Croatian club Varteks acquired his services for a season.
Jedinak looks back on this spell as a great move in his progression as a player, as he firmly believes it gave him a great insight into professional football in Europe, as well as what is required to make it at the top level.
Jedinak then moved to A-League side Central Coast Mariners in 2006, where he spent two very productive seasons. During this time, he was lucky enough to captain the side to an A-League Premiership in 2007/2008. The following year saw him make the move across to Turkish Football with Gençlerbirliği. He continued to impress in Turkey, where he also enjoyed a loan spell at Antalyaspor. After two fruitful seasons in the region, Jedinak saw the opportunity to continue his career in England, and when Palace came knocking, he promptly accepted their offer.
Since moving to the Eagles, Jedinak has hardly put a foot wrong, and has continued his superb performances into Palace’s Premier League campaign.
He was undoubtedly man of the match in their first match against Spurs, which his side was very unlucky to lose.
He continues to lead by example, and was also instrumental in Palace’s opening win of the season against Sunderland. The club will be hoping to defy many experts’ belief that they will suffer instant relegation, and with Jedinak steering the ship, you can be assured he will do everything in his power to help his side avoid the dreaded drop.
