Crystal Palace Back On The Brink

Strap on the red blue giggle goggles. Next up is the Big One! The shivers of excitement (for weeks now) tell me maybe, but maybe, this FA Cup Final will be different for Crystal Palace!

There’s been eight Finals since the last time the Cup was grabbed from our grasp, in the Clattenberg Final, and we should probably note that Manchester City actually won the trophy twice since we last even reached a Final. Today, it feels like Palace are on the brink …. But what of?

To become FA Cup holders this week, Palace will of course need to overturn the odds – City are currently 2/5 favourites, Palace are 12/5.  My Dad used to like a little bet and – as he always said – a game of football is a race with only two horses, so if odds look tempting, the bookies might have it wrong.

To win the Cup, Palace must of course play with belief, courage and confidence.   The opponents to beat will be men who are formidably experienced winners, led by a genius coach, backed by a wall of emotion supporting the still-brilliant Kevin De Bruyne in one of his final appearances for them.

Glasner and the Palace players will not easily forget the chastening experience of City scoring 5 goals in just 46 minutes only 5 weeks ago.  Equally, however, City will still have chilling recollections of our 2-0 surprise lead that twice was 3-0 but for a bad miss and then the length of Eze’s big toe.  Before Southampton at the weekend, City were in sizzling hot form, and after the 26 misses they massed on the south coast, Man City are due a goal.  But….

Palace created 23 chances at Spurs and only scored twice, so aren’t we due a goal too?!

Can Pride Come Before Victory?

Oliver Glasner will be bursting with pride as our suited manager leads his team onto the Wembley pitch once more.  And each player in the Cup Final line-up will live the opportunity to crown his Eagles career in glory, turning red and blue legends green with envy – players who wanted so badly to lift that Cup for Palace.  You know their names well – Zaha, Wright & Bright, Nigel Martyn and many more.  In a split second, Eze, Guehi and the players at Wembley can etch themselves into club history on Saturday.  What an opportunity!

Glasnerball On World View

Oliver Glasner’s way of playing will be viewed by the entire football world at Wembley.

One aspect of Glasnerball that I especially enjoy is that he keeps tweaking and improving it.  For example, how did the Villa semi-final differ from other semi-finals we won?  The sheer power and speed were overwhelming, and it was pure Glasnerball.  Plus what’s really becoming a Palace strength – steals!  You probably know that, in the NBA, taking the ball from an opponent in possession is called a steal, and the players who do it most are valued very highly.  In knocking Villa out of the Cup, we had 3 steals that gave us 3 goals – and we had a clean sheet too! A fun football experience for Glasnerball!

If we win on Saturday, Glasner’s team will have played 10 cup ties this season for nine wins and only one loss. And completing that record by lifting the FA Cup would open valuable new doors for the club.  As well as being our last opponent this season, Liverpool would provide our first competitive contest next season, because we’ll be facing them in the Community Shield. Additionally, European midweek football in Europe would put extra demands on the transfer budget.  At the moment, our only game changers on the bench are Franca, Esse and Nketiah.  With the squad demands we saw, for example, during Brighton’s first European adventure, injuries are bound to pile up.

The Learning Experience   

In between Southampton and Spurs, Palace played 7 matches, all against top half Premier League teams.  Given that we had interests in two competitions, we couldn’t always be fully focused or at full strength, but still we took 2 wins and 3 draws and only lost twice.  And, as his team selections for the Arsenal and Tottenham matches showed, just days before Wembley Cup-ties, Glasner never takes his boot off the gas pedal.  Our players know it.  Every match requires maximum effort for 100 minutes or more, if necessary. The Final might demand even more.  Against a weak and frankly poor Spurs team, Palace had no chance of proper preparation for the Final, so instead enjoyed a victory stroll in the sunshine, while Eagles’ supporters warmed up for Wembley serenading the team as the stadium emptied in silence.

Looking forward to 2025-26, it could even be argued that this run of games gave Glasner a type of extended pre-season of highest quality.  Seven matches against motivated opponents who need points, while we had a lot less pressure, our minds had long been clear of relegation fears, and European qualification via league position had proved beyond our reach this time.

As so often during this spell, Palace frequently played Glasnerball with deep courage and determination, for example scoring twice at the Emirates (matched only by Liverpool, Villa and Leicester this season). Glasner looked ecstatic at the final whistle that night.  And, after Brighton then Bournemouth, we can be certain this group of players understands the word “team”.

Having donated a man advantage to two top half Premier League teams, emerging from those two games so short handed with 4 points required little flair, much more profoundly strong character.

This run of matches proved Palace are currently playing consistently at top half Premier League level, and for 2025/26 the squad needs strengthening rather than any major surgery.  Still, shortcomings were brutally exposed in April – particularly when conceding 10 times in less than a game and a half against Man City and Newcastle.  Glasner was given a real chance to look and plan for the future.  Assuming he’s still here….

Across the football world, eyes have popped.  In just 15 months, Glasner has turned Roy’s squad into a team millions of tv footy fans currently love to watch. Our manager’s name is on lots of lips, and it would be silly right now to rule Glasner out of any top job that might come up this summer, including Leipzig, Dortmund and even Spurs.

Testing Owners

The latest financial results are in.

The story is simple, and owners are being challenged.  Palace has lost money every year for a long time now, the owners are frequently asked to stump up more millions, and our ambition constantly runs ahead of our pay grade – plus we want a big new grandstand that was once budgeted around £75m but is now said to be costing north of £200m.

Some now ask if the Main Stand project will ever go ahead at all, but being positive, the Board may feel braver thanks to Oliver Glasner’s “magic”.  At his first Palace press conference, the Austrian went out of his way to declare, “I’m not a magician”.  Yet there is undeniably a magic that Glasner brings, and surprisingly perhaps, its impact can even be felt in the income this club makes.

At the margins, Glasner’s magic is improving income in four ways – prize money, TV fees, commercial income and player values.  For the season now ending, Palace will take the unusual step of announcing a profit, but this is possible only because of the 2024 sales of Olise, Andersen, Ayew and Johnstone.

As we all know, we still possess top players, and it’s understandable if some want to be with a bigger club.  So … is it even possible to keep all these talents happy at Selhurst? In Palace’s case, the pressure to sell is even greater because our recruitment has been so outstanding.  But not flawless – did you see Sorloth scored 4 in half an hour for Atletico at the weekend?!  As fans, we can only watch and wait to see what happens.

New Owner Coming?

Meanwhile, as we wait to see if we can win the Cup, keep our stars and take up residence in the top half of the Premier League, the Board Room is feeling the challenge.  John Textor is rumoured to be putting together a full takeover bid where he would become principal owner of CPFC.  Steve Parish seems unlikely to take that lying down, and he was seen at the Forest game with the controversial Woody Johnson, 77, American billionaire and sports owner.

Johnson’s history is interesting, even if it does seem like others we have known.  His biggest claim to fame is perhaps that he paid more money for a sports team than anyone had ever paid before, buying the NFL New York Jets for $635m.  That was 24 years ago, and since then the Jets have won …… nothing. They did reach the final four twice, in 2009 and 2010, but lost both times.  Nevertheless, the Jets are now valued at more than $5bn.  Johnson still co-owns the team with his brother.  Like all these guys, Woody doesn’t need to be a fan to own the team. When Chelsea changed hands in 2022, Johnson tried to buy it for $2bn.

And Please, Please Don’t Forget

My final word on the Final … for now….

Please, please, somewhere in your Cup Final Saturday, find a moment to think about all the Palace supporters who didn’t live long enough to see Palace lift a top trophy. Their desire to win the Cup was just as powerful and juicy as the passion and pride that will run through your body when the ref blows to start the game.  These men, women and children may be gone, but they’re not forgotten, they once stood where you do now.

Remember, too, the ones who can’t be at Wembley.  What about the old-timers, who’ve loved the Palace for a lifetime already, watching our team on a Cup Final Saturday AGAIN! There’s been plenty of heartache in a long journey since the Third Division South. So be sure to bring with you all the passion for Palace from the countless fans who weathered those years and would have given anything to be where you’ll be standing Saturday.

For anyone under 15, seeing Palace in a Final will be a ‘first” so, if you see a young Palace fan, be sure to cheer them on for cheering us on.

A word, too, for our partners in life who share our love for the Palace.  Whether your partner provides full support for our team, no support or even if your other half is Brighton, they will still live and feel this major moment in your life in a special way.  And all will be sure to share your joy or your despair on Saturday evening.

Lastly, think of the silent millions all over the world, those armchair non-Palace fans from, drawn to enjoy the pleasures of Glasnerball when it works because that’s when even the giants can fall.