How to define a season for a club which once again began as one of the nominated teams to return to the Championship.
That is the challenge that us fans have faced since we signed off the season with an excellent win at home to high flying Swansea City.
There are plenty of smug faces in and around South London at the moment and rightly so. We can all be proud of what the club has achieved once again. The thought of facing a third successive Premier League campaign is an exciting one but surpassing last season’s finish was very special indeed.
It is hard to imagine that the season actually began in such turmoil with Tony Pulis walking out on the club two days before the opening game at Arsenal.
There was plenty of anger as the news broke. It was not just Pulis that took the brunt of it either, it was also aimed at chairman Steve Parish from many quarters. There was little to suggest why it had happened or who was at fault. All we knew was that it had happened and the players and coaching staff had a game to prepare for. It was up to the owners to find a replacement.
The effect on the fans was that of feeling another comfortable Premier League finish was on the cards to that of aiming for a 17th place finish. It was quite a different mindset.
The opening month of the season was eventful to say the least. The week of the Pulis departure ended in similar fashion at Arsenal. Palace arguably did enough for the win after taking the lead but injury time goals at the end of each half just contributed to a week to forget along with the silly dismissal of Jason Puncheon.
Things did not get much better with defeat to West Ham at home. There was some respite from league duty with a midweek demolition of Walsall courtesy of a Dwight Gayle hat-trick in the League Cup.
There was no time to waste for the owners as they went for familiarity by appointing a manager that knew the club and seen as similar in method to Pulis. Perhaps it was more around the timing and desperation to get a man in before the season drifted by. That man was Neil Warnock much to everyone’s surprise.
Questions were immediately raised about his calibre in the top division, particularly in this day and age. It was perhaps seen as unfinished business for the former Palace manager who left to take the Queens Park Rangers job when the club went into administration.
His opening game in charge stopped the rot after two league defeats opened the campaign. A long trip to Newcastle was rewarded with a point after a goal at the death by substitute Wilfried Zaha.
The Warnock critics had very little to complain about in September as Palace were unbeaten in the league with wins against Everton, Leicester City and a draw with Burnley courtesy of a superb last minute penalty save by Julian Speroni. The first defeat of Warnock’s tenure was in the League Cup at home to Newcastle after extra time.
It was not long for the pressure to begin and it was never going to take long. Defeats to Chelsea and Hull City were contributing factors while a draw at West Bromwich Albion, famous for a reckless elbow on Speroni, started calls for Warnock to be sacked.
It was certainly true that Palace had been subject to some questionable refereeing but fans were becoming tired of that becoming a regular excuse along with ‘the lads played well out there today‘ from Warnock.
There was no denying that Warnock seemed to get a decent result just when there was a sign that his job was on the line. An awful loss at home to Sunderland followed by defeat to Manchester United were followed up by an excellent win against Liverpool and a draw with Swansea City. That cluster of games proves that point.
Then the month that shaped the destiny of the season for the club. A similarly awful home defeat but this time to a struggling Aston Villa side, losses on the road to Manchester City and then back at home to Southampton. That is the run that sealed Warnock’s fate and the owners were to make a decision which looking back with hindsight was perfectly timed.
Even though the final month of 2014 was the last for Warnock at Palace, there was more proof if I needed any of signs of decent results when they were needed with draws away at Tottenham Hotspur and at home to Stoke City. This time they were not enough.
In stepped Keith Millen. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride but he did an excellent job overseeing goalless draws at both Queens Park Rangers and Aston Villa. The latter was his last in charge as watching from the stands was incoming manager Alan Pardew.
Rescued from a torrid time at Newcastle, it was a real sign of intent by the Palace owners. Gone were the days of settling for a manager that was out of work. We went out and got our man, paying compensation for the privilege. I maintain to this day he was the signing of our season.
The first game for Pardew was a trip to non-league Dover Athletic in the FA Cup. The television cameras were there to broadcast live expecting an upset but it was not to be. Palace and Pardew resurrected their love affair with a convincing win.
It was an excellent start with Pardew in charge. The win in the cup was just the start. Beating Tottenham at home was a big result and Palace ended up as the only London club that they could not defeat during the season.
Even bigger was the win at Burnley after being two goals down, Pardew showed his tactical know-how by making the changes to not only draw level but get the win.
The fourth round of the FA Cup was away at Southampton and what a game it turned out to be. Five goals in a chaotic first half was all that was needed and Palace were through to the fifth round.
The only blot on an otherwise perfect month was a home defeat to Everton proving the poor form at Selhurst was not quite so easy to resolve.
Amid calls from Newcastle fans that the form would never last, Palace continued with wins against Leicester and West Ham, a draw with Newcastle and a narrow and perhaps unlucky loss to Arsenal. The away form in particular was impressive.
The draw for the fifth round of the cup saw us pit our wits against Liverpool once again but this time they had the upper hand. One of only a handful of appearances by Daniel Sturridge in the season was enough to help then exorcise some Selhurst demons. If only they knew what would come later in the season.
If it is rare for a honeymoon to last much more than three weeks in this modern age but Pardew was pushing the boundaries at Palace since he joined. Making the team play football, the players looked more confident on the ball and not so scared of it.
Wins were to follow against Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City along with a notional loss at Southampton which was only fair after their cup exit.
Did I mention honeymoon? Well, it was pushing four months as there was little sign of Palace stopping their resurgence and seriously threatening the top ten.
Fantastic wins against Manchester City and Sunderland added to the points tally but then the hangover hit. Home losses to Tony Pulis and his new West Bromwich Albion side was somewhat predictable but not so much against Hull City.
Both of those defeats were at a time when Palace looked to have done their hard work early. The way the Premier League was panning out it was looking unlikely that there would be any fear of relegation.
While funnier things have happened, it was not to be on this occasion even after two more narrow defeats at the hands of title winning Chelsea and Manchester United. In fact both of those performances deserved more, much more.
It was a period of four games leading to the end of the season that all Palace fans feared could be crucial as the fixtures were announced the previous June. We need not have worried.
The penultimate game of the season was a trip to Liverpool in what was to be Steven Gerrard’s final game at Anfield. There was no sign of Palace even contemplating a result in the build up to the game but the perennial underdogs did what they do best.
It was a well deserved result after going a goal behind. Another stunning free kick from Puncheon started the fight back to add to his collection against both Manchester sides.
Signing off another successful campaign against Swansea was more than that. There was a real chance of Palace claiming a top ten spot with a win as long as results were favourable elsewhere. One goal was enough by Marouane Chamakh to see the club exceed the previous season and finishing tenth.
The Alan Pardew effect was clear for all to see. Neil Warnock was not quite the terrible appointment many had predicted. He oversaw the team achieve some decent results and pick up points to keep us in with a fighting chance going into the New Year. When it stopped working the owners acted and at a perfect time. After all, everything happens for a reason.
It did not take long for Pardew to instill his beliefs on the team and it was noticeable immediately. The rest is history but we can all look back very fondly indeed.
The Puncheon free kicks, the Bolasie hat-trick, the man machine McArthur, the Zaha and Bolasie wing wizardry, the return of Glenn Murray, the Speroni saves, the versatile Ward, the cup winning Jedinak, the influence of Dann, the Bolasie smile, the Ledley beard …. there are so many moments from the season that spring to mind, every fan will have a different one.
The one overriding memory for me will always be the season defining appointment of Super Al.
