In the interim, Palace clearly believed that they would be elected as, 10 days prior to the Southern League AGM, they issued their new share prospectus, setting up the professional club with an initial capital of £5,000 split into £1 shares and announced that ‘_Mr. J Miller, late of Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion, has been selected as trainer, and Mr. Edmund F. Goodman, late assistant secretary to the Aston Villa Football Club, will act as secretary_;’ adding that 11 professionals had been signed from Midlands and Northern teams, and an application had been made for membership of the First Division of the Southern League.
Palace had earlier signed John (“Jack”) Robson as its new manager. Robson had been secretary and manager of Middlesbrough for 15 years. He knew the Football League and its players well and it was he who was responsible for signing the pool of Palace’s new professionals.
Battle lines had been drawn, and the new applications went to the Southern League’s AGM at the end of the season for resolution.
The AGM was held on 30th May 1905 and as expected of the bottom two clubs, Wellingborough resigned, and Luton sought re-election. Applications to join Division 1 were received from Norwich City, Crystal Palace, Clapton Orient (although they had already been accepted by the Football League), Leyton and Grays United. Chelsea had withdrawn their application, having successfully applied to join the Football League.
When the meeting reached the point where the election of new clubs to Division 1 was considered, each club was given the opportunity to address the meeting.
It was likely that there was concern on the part of other London clubs in the Southern League that the Crystal Palace Company, the owners of the Cup Final ground, with all their resources, would have a considerable unfair advantage and their football club would draw support away from the other London Clubs. When it came to Crystal Palace’s turn, they had to try and show that they were an independent entity – even though they weren’t!
Crystal Palace appear to have employed a high-powered barrister as their delegate, as the Norfolk News correspondent reported being invited to the chambers of the Palace delegate, E.E. Wild, after the AGM. (E.E. Wild would later become Sir Ernest Edward Wild K.C. and elected M.P. for West Ham, Upton). Palace were clearly taking the challenge seriously!