That Palace played such opponents can largely be attributed to club politics of the time – [**as historian Peter Manning here explains regarding our initial placement in the Second Division**](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/features/120-years-ago-today-palaces-battle-to-become-a-professional-league-club/) – but with Palace not able to gain election to the Southern League, then a competitor to the Football League, the club were forced to begin in the Second Division, which largely comprised reserve teams.
Nevertheless, following that initial shock defeat, Palace then went on to suffer no further losses for the rest of the season, duly gaining promotion to the First Division anyhow – quite the turnaround!
We would spend a total of 15 years in the Southern League before joining the expanded Football League in 1920/21 – although it admittedly would take another 64 years before we played our…
### First… top-flight match
As a newly promoted side, a gentle introduction to the top-flight is always a bonus. Less welcoming – although altogether more exciting – is facing some of Europe’s best on the opening day.
But that’s exactly what Palace encountered on 9th August 1969, as Manchester United – with some of the greatest stars of the era – arrived in South London to take on the First Division’s newboys.
Just months earlier, Bert Head had taken the Glaziers to the promised land for the first time in the club’s 100-year-plus existence. Victory in the penultimate game of the season, in front of more than 36,000 supporters at Selhurst Park, had sealed promotion.
Just 10 years prior, Palace had been a fourth-division club. Now they were preparing to face the best.