COMMENT: The quirky story of one Crystal Palace-mad family and their unique following of the club for over 110 years without success - until now.
17:18, Sun, May 18, 2025 | UPDATED: 18:29, Sun, May 18, 2025
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The Eagles have landed. (Image: -)
OPINION
“Why would you support Crystal Palace – they never win anything?” Words I will never have to hear spoken again by ‘big club’ supporters for whom scooping up silverware is just a fact of everyday life. And yet it is a question I’ve been asked frequently throughout my life – in part by the Eagles historic lack of success but also through geography. But not anymore. The boys from SE25 have only gone and won the FA Cup in 2025, and I haven't stopped crying since.
Growing up as a Palace mad schoolboy in the football hotbed of Leeds in the 1970s and 1980s, there were not many fellow Eagles knocking about – in fact, I’m pretty sure I was the only one. And yet it gave me a strange sense of identity where, in the playground, pretty much everyone knew me not as Paul but as 'Jeevesie the Crystal Palace FC fan'. Looking back, I was probably a bit of a freak – but I revelled in being different.
Crystal Palace v Manchester City - Emirates FA Cup Final
Joel Ward of Crystal Palace lifts the trophy. (Image: Getty Images)
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Paul Jeeves sporting his Team of the 80's Crystal Palace kit. (Image: -)
My Croydon-born father Brian had moved north for a new job around the time of my conception, but with family ties to south London still strong, there was to be little chance of him defecting to support Don Revie’s all-conquering Leeds United FC team in his new adopted city. Instead, he continued to support the team; his own father, Les, born in 1912 in Croydon, just seven years after Palace’s formation in 1905, bestowed on him Saturday afternoon trips to watch games in Division Three (South).
In the intervening years, Palace’s fortunes gradually improved with a FA Cup run to the semi-finals in 1976, making us the first third division team to reach that stage of the competition, and Malcolm Allison's Fedora sparked the first bit of national interest in a small football club from the wrong side of town.
My first trip to Selhurst Park was in November 1979 to see Terry Venables’ Palace beat Man City 2-0. I got a scarf, hat, and Jim Cannon badge and still have the hat and scarf to this day.
Together, around 220 miles from Selhurst Park, we proudly flew the red and blue (sash) flag, believing Venables’ Team of the 80s would see Palace rise to become the all-conquering dominant force in English football.
Instead, we were relegated from Division One and spent much of the decade being quite frankly rubbish.
Undeterred by the constant ribbing my CPFC bag attracted at school, Dad and I would spend our Saturdays circumventing the country to watch our beloved team of no-hopers. Northern outposts of Blackburn, Grimsby, Burnley, along with more local teams such as Leeds (who had also become pants at the time), Bradford and Huddersfield. With football hooliganism rife in the 80s and me still being young (football wasn’t quite as family friendly as it is now), we seldom watched games alongside other Eagles in the away stand. Instead, we would infiltrate the home stands and be forced to temper our celebrations on the rare occasions Palace scored.
Frequent trips to London to visit family were different, however. They always coincided with a home game, and I would relish the freedom of being able to properly cheer on my team.
FILE - Former England Manager Terry Venables Dies Aged 80
Team of the 80s under Terry Venables. (Image: Getty Images)
Steve Coppell, Mark Bright and Ian Wright, 1989
Crystal Palace manager Steve Coppell poses with Mark Bright (left) and Ian Wright. 19th July 1989. (Image: Mirrorpix)
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Paul and his dad Brian outside Wembley in 2016.
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Crystal Palace v Manchester City - Emirates FA Cup Final
Dean Henderson of Crystal Palace celebrates after the Emirates FA Cup Final. (Image: Getty Images)
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Paul's Crystal Palace schoolbag. (Image: -)
Despite starting to watch games with our own fans at away games as I entered my teen years, it would be whilst infiltrating the home stand at Old Trafford in 1989, after Palace were finally promoted to the top division 1989, that gave me one of my most cherished CPFC moments. Manchester United FC were in turmoil with their manager, Alex Ferguson, under intense pressure following a poor start to the season. Along with dad and my granddad (who had also now moved north), we travelled across the M62 to Manchester only to find tickets for the Palace end sold out. That left us no option but to sit three-abreast in the United stand as Steve Coppell's Palace – who weeks earlier had been thumped 9-0 by Liverpool –secure a thrilling 2-1 victory. When Palace’s second goal went in, we struggled to contain our joy and were ‘spotted’ by an angry United fan who questioned our opposition fan status. Fearing a beating, Dad shouted ‘We Want Fergie Out’ and I instantly joined in. To our surprise, everyone around us also began chanting, and within seconds, the whole ground was singing our chant. It saved us from a kicking and made all the backpage headlines the following day!
Six months later, we watched in disbelief as Palace gained revenge on Liverpool FC by beating them 4-3 in a match regarded by neutrals as the greatest FA Cup semi-final of all time.
Attempts for final tickets failed, so we watched the biggest match in Palace’s history at home on TV, and bizarrely, I don’t remember being that upset when United’s Mark Hughes scored an equaliser just six minutes from victory. Instead, I thought we’d get a ticket for the reply – we didn’t get a ticket and we lost after Palace were denied a clear penalty by a rubbish ref!
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Three generations of Palace fans at Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final in 2016. (Image: -)
Crystal Palace v Manchester City - Emirates FA Cup Final
Eberechi Eze of Crystal Palace bites his winners medal after the Emirates. (Image: The FA via Getty Images)
Palace finished third the following season, and Dad and I had our greatest football day together in 1991, when we finally made it to Wembley to see our team lift the Zenith Data Systems Cup (a short-lived competition put in place while English teams were exiled from Europe).
However, shortly after, the team of Wright, Bright, Thomas, and Martyn fell apart, and Palace spent much of the next decade yo-yo-ing between the top two divisions. Yet we continued our weekend travels to Crewe, Stockport, and Rotherham.
I met my future wife whilst at University and one of our first dates was away to see Palace beat Stoke on our 1994 promotion march. She’s been an avid Eagle ever since.
The arrival of our own children and increased work commitments made getting to matches every weekend a tad trickier, but we still made a good fist of it and were there as Palace flitted between disaster (almost going out of business twice) and glory (winning the Play-Off finals).
But whilst this past decade has been nothing short of a dream for those of us more accustomed to losing 3-0 to Scunthorpe or 7-0 to Huddersfield and after we were left heartbroken in 2016 by our cup final loss to Man Utd (again) I doubted I would ever fulfil my dream of seeing Palace lift a major trophy.
We headed to Wembley on Saturday with much hope but little expectation as we faced the all-conquering might of Manchester City FC. Despite being a sprightly 87 years old, Dad decided a full day out in the Wembley sunshine (with a 500-mile round trip to boot) might be just a tad too much, so he watched it at home on TV with Mum as me and my Palace fanatical wife, son, and daughter headed for the national stadium.
I Facetimed my parents as we took our seats, and tears welled as Dad told me: “I’ve been watching my team for over 80 years, and I would just so love it if the boys could just give me this….please. One cup is surely not too much to ask in my lifetime.”
Crystal Palace v Manchester City - Emirates FA Cup Final
Joel Ward and Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace lift the trophy. (Image: Getty Images)
Guess what - we only went and bloody did it. I still can’t believe it. A neighbour took mum and dad a bottle of champagne round on full-time, but he was too exhausted to drink it.
“I’m saving it to drink with you son,” he said.
I think we might drive to drink it outside Hartlepool's ground. That's where I caught pneumonia watching us lose 1-0 in the FA Cup third round in 1993 (the pitch temperature was -6, and I didn’t wear a proper coat). Or maybe Stockport, where a last-minute winner in 2001 probably saved the club from oblivion.
It’s those lifetime of quirky memories that all culminated in an explosion of joy upon Saturday’s final whistle.
And whilst the victory was primarily for the red and blue hearts of south London (and beyond), it was also a victory for every football fan of a team outside the upper echelons who might just dare to dream that one day, just one day, they can achieve the impossible.
That one on Saturday was especially for you, Brian and Les.
Eagles!