Looking back ten years when I was just a kid of eleven years old, I remember going to Selhurst Park to support the boys and it did not matter if we won, drew or lost. All I cared about was seeing my idols playing for my favourite team.
Ten years on little has changed.
The excitement of going to games is personified by the fact that I am not local to Selhurst, especially now being at university, so attending three or four games a year is the best I can do. But those occasions really are special for me, particularly if my Dad comes too, making it more of a family spectacle.
When the players walk out onto the crisp green grass of Selhurst Park and Glad All Over blasts out over the sound system, everything is forgotten and for the next ninety minutes I am in a different world.
The atmosphere is electric, tense and exciting, especially back when I was younger and you would never be able to tell if we were going to play like Barcelona or Barnet. Truth be told, some days after an awful performance you had to take whatever positives you could, which back then was the fantastic fish and chip shop across the road. Sadly that is long gone so now we must rely on the performances on the pitch to stimulate our senses and provide us with some enjoyment.
Recently, performances on the pitch have not really given us much reason to celebrate, and despite the players putting a shift in week in, week out, for whatever reason the results have not come. This is a shame because it looked like we were on a roll at the back end of last year, and a tumultuous Christmas seems to have thrown us off balance.
Fortunately, the one area we have been picking up wins is in the F.A Cup, and those have been against two strong Premier League sides, so the next fixture against Spurs should be just the thing for every Palace fan. For one week we can stop fretting about our league performances and just go to a game and watch Palace give it their all with nothing to lose.
Do I realistically think we have a chance of beating Spurs? Not really, but what is the harm in going out and giving it a real good go, as a win here could bring the spark back and get us back to winning ways in the Premier League. It is so good to see Palace taking well over 5,000 fans to White Hart Lane, showing that our support is as strong as ever, despite the historical fact that few clubs take the competition as seriously as the league.
Nudging away from Palace slightly, I saw this week a post on Facebook by a woman who was resigning her post at Aston Villa due to a lack of care by players and other members of the hierarchy at the club. She told tales of players laughing and joking about their poor results, and the owners also paying very little thought and attention to the dire situation the club finds itself in.
As a football fan I find it insulting that any player would laugh at a poor result. I know that very few Palace players over the years have had that attitude, and if they did, they were retrospectively punished. I am by no means condoning someone publicly quitting their job, but I have to say I feel that in this instance this lady has done the right thing, I think the owner Randy Learner needs a bit of a wake-up call, and perhaps relegation might just be that.
I am not sure why players who come to Palace have that positive ‘play for the club’ attitude, when at other clubs you find players play for their pay cheque. It may come from the chairmen who are passionate about the club, but this kind of thing has been going on for years. Whilst it is totally the right thing to do, and the only thing someone who is technically employed by the club should do, it is all too common to find a club where the players simply do not care about their attitude so long as they are paid each month. It is sickening to watch and it makes me so happy that we instill such a positive attitude into our playing staff.
An example that springs to mind currently is Darren Ambrose, who just so happens to be one of my favourite players to don the mighty red and blue. He also went several months unpaid whist Palace were in administration, trying his best to help us out of the tough situation we found ourselves in, much like players at Bolton Wanderers have had to recently. This is an admiral thing to do, and I look back in fondness at the affection showed by him and the other players at the club to continue playing, not knowing whether they would get paid at all.
For me, it is the passion that is most important, and if the players show it, the fans give it, and that takes me back to where I started. Every time I go to Palace, it is the passion that makes it so special, and in the grand scheme of things, results are just a number. It does not really matter what final score is read out on Match Of The Day because we should enjoy going to watch our favourite team play regardless of the score, and I trust that is why we have so many travelling to North London.
Give it your all Eagles, we are always behind you! Up the Palace!
