Crystal Palace Odds

Crystal Palace Odds

As with every Premier League team, there are a huge number of Crystal Palace betting odds available all year round.

With the club’s reputation for yo-yoing up and down the football league system, odds on Crystal Palace to stay up are just as popular as Crystal Palace relegation odds. Both can offer value, depending on current results and form, and both are extremely common betting markets.

With the Crystal Palace FA Cup history containing two or three close calls, including being narrowly beaten in the 2016 final, odds on Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup might be worth looking at.

History

Crystal Palace are a Premier League football team located in South East London, England. They are one of a small number of Premier League clubs who have spent one season or more in all four professional English divisions. One of the founder members of the Premier League, Crystal Palace have spent their last five seasons playing Premier League football, after spending eight consecutive seasons in the Championship.

Crystal Palace history begins in 1905. The Crystal Palace Exhibition building was at the time the venue for FA Cup Finals, and the owners wanted a permanent football side to play there to bring in revenue. 

The Crystal Palace history actually begins before 1905. There are reports of an amateur Crystal Palace team in 1861, made up of workers from the exhibition building, but these were defunkt by the early 1870’s. 

The 1905/1906 is the start of Crystal Palace F.C league history. Having been refused a place in the Football League, the club entered the Southern League Second Division. Their first season was a success, winning the league title and in the process gaining immediate promotion to the Southern League First Division at the first time of asking.

Crystal Palace spent the next nine years in the Southern League First Division, before the start of the First World War led to a suspension of football. 

During the period of the First World War, the Admiralty took control of the Crystal Palace Exhibition building and Crystal Palace had to find a new home. They played at the Nest, the home of Croydon Common F.C and Herne Hill Velodrome. 

For the 1920/1921 season, the club joined the Third Division, winning the title and gaining promotion to the Second Division. Two years later, Palace moved into Selhurst Park, and have remained playing their home games there ever since.

The first season at Selhurst Park was a disappointing one however. Crystal Palace were relegated in their first season in the Second Division and returned to the Third Division South.

Palace spent 15 years in the Third Division South until the start of the Second World War stopped professional football. There wasn’t a change in fortunes for Palace after the war either, the club sliding down the table and having to reapply to the Football League three times.

For the 1958/1959 season, the Football League structure changed. The top half teams of the Third Division South joined up with the top half teams of the Third Division North and a new Third Division was formed. Unfortunately for Crystal Palace, they finished in the bottom half of the southern league and were given a place in the Fourth Division, the lowest professional tier in English football.

Three seasons later, and Crystal Palace earned promotion to the Third Division. In the 1963/1964 season, Palace gained another promotion. The club spent five seasons in the Second Division before getting promoted yet again in 1969. In the 1960’s, Crystal Palace played at least one season in all four divisions.

The beginning of the 1970’s started well for Palace, but their fortunes took a turn for the worse in 1973 when Crystal Palace suffered relegation. Palace struggled in the Second Division and suffered a consecutive relegation. The 1974/1975 season saw Palace play Third Division football once again, and they spent the next three seasons in the third tier.

Terry Venables took charge of the club, replacing Malcolm Allison as Crystal Palace manager. Success returned to Selhurst Park, and promotion back to the Second Division in 1977 was quickly followed by a second promotion two seasons later.

Their first season back in the top flight, Palace finished mid-table, but with the club facing financial difficulties resulting in the sale of some key players, they couldn’t build on that and in the following season they suffered another relegation. 

At this time, Ron Noades completed a successful takeover at Crystal Palace, shortly before Steve Coppell took the manager’s job. After eight seasons in the Second Division, Palace once again earned promotion by winning the second tier play-offs.

More success followed. Crystal Palace enjoyed their best ever run in the FA Cup, reaching the Final where they faced Manchester United. They drew 3-3 (at that time if the Final finished as a draw a replay would be held rather that going straight to extra-time and penalties) but lost the replay 1-0.

The following season saw Crystal Palace finish in their highest ever league position. They finished third in the First Division, but due to the suspension on English clubs playing in European competition the club missed out on a European place.

The club could only muster a tenth place finish in the following season, but it was enough to guarantee them a place in the inaugural Premier League season. However, Ian Wright and Mark Bright, the Crystal Palace star strikers were sold, and Palace were relegated. They did though manage to gain 49 points, which to this day is the highest number of points a relegated team has finished with.

Alan Smith took on the managerial reigns and his side stormed their way to a Division One title to return to the Premier League at the first attempt. Their Premier League status lasted just one season, despite two excellent cup runs getting to the semi-finals of the League Cup and the FA Cup the club finished in the relegation zone once again as the Premier League changed its structure from 22 teams to 20.

The following season, Crystal Palace came close to an instant return to Premier League football, but were defeated in the play-off final. In the 1996/1997 season, Palace qualified for the play-offs once more, and this time were successful, beating Sheffield United in the final.

The topsy-turvy nature of Crystal Palace continued however. Palace finished bottom of the Premier League and once more were relegated to play Division One football. This time, there was no instant return, and the club spent the following six seasons playing second tier football.

In 1999, Crystal Palace were suffering from severe financial problems and headed into administration. Simon Jordan then launched a successful takeover bid, and the club’s financial future looked brighter.

The club remained in Division One until they gained promotion in the 2003/2004 season. Again, promotion was achieved through the play off system but again, their Premier League status lasted for just one season. 

Financial troubles hit the club once more, and Palace were forced to sell some of their best players to raise funds. The Football League also deducted them ten points as they went into administration, and this almost cost them their Championship place, but a final day draw saw them maintain their Championship status.

In 2010, a number of Palace fans founded a consortium with a view of buying the club. Their plans were successful, and as well as buying the club they were also able to buy back Selhurst Park. 

Palace were a middling Championship side, until the 2012/2013 season when another play-off win saw the club back in the Premier League. This time, they have stayed there, and the 2015/2016 season saw Palace back at Wembley for another FA Cup Final, again against Manchester United. The result, unfortunately for Palace, was the same, with United winning in extra time.

Badge

There have been six incarnations of the Crystal Palace club badge. The Crystal Palace badge history begins in 1955. Before this date, Palace just used their initials on shirts and a crest featuring the Crystal Palace was used on documentation, but not on the kits. The first Crystal Palace badge featured an image of the Crystal Palace building, with the team name underneath.

A circular badge was introduced for the 1972/1973. This badge featured ‘The Glaziers’, the club nickname at the time, with Crystal Palace F.C underneath and the initials CP inside the circle.

That badge lasted just one season, and a new Crystal Palace crest was designed. With a change in nickname, the club becoming known as the Eagles, the badge featured an eagle standing on top of a football. The badge was subject to a slight alteration in 1987, when the Crystal Palace building incorporating the team name joined the eagle on the crest. 

In 1994, the image of the eagle was altered along with the colouring on the football. This badge lasted until 2013, when more alterations were made, if only slightly, and the date 1905, signifying the year the club was formed, was included in the design.

Colours

The Crystal Palace strip colours today are blue and red stripes, but before 1973, the club used a variety of different colours and styles. 

When the club was formed in 1905, the original Crystal Palace F.C colours were claret and blue. This was because Aston Villa, one of the biggest clubs in the country at the time, donated kits to Palace and the Villa colours were adopted.

The kits generally stayed the same until 1938, when the Crystal Palace colours changed from claret and blue to white and black. Over the next decade, Palace wore white shirts, black shorts and black socks, except for a period of two years when the team wore claret and blue socks.

A short return to the claret and blue colours preceded a kit change that featured the white and black kits but this time they featured a claret and blue trim.

1963 saw the club use their away kit, a yellow shirt with white shorts and white socks, as their home kit, considering it lucky. The following season the club wore all white, possibly inspired by the friendly against Real Madrid.

A return to claret, blue and white followed, until the 1973/1974 season. Here was the first introduction to the famous red and blue stripes, with the then Crystal Palace manager Malcolm Allison requesting the change. 

For the rest of the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Crystal Palace kit colours alternated from red and blue stripes to all white with a diagonal red and blue stripe design. 

From 1987, the club have kept the red and blue striped shirts apart from in their centenary year where they wore white shirts with a claret and blue trim to represent their origins.

On most of the Palace kits, the red and blue striped shirts have been accompanied by red shorts and red socks, though since 2011, the club has worn blue shorts and blue socks.

Crystal Palace Stadium

The Crystal Palace stadium name is Selhurst Park. Before the club moved to Selhurst Park in 1924, Crystal Palace used a variety of locations to play their home games. The Crystal Palace Exhibition building was first, but during the First World War Palace were told to find another home by the Admiralty and moved to the Herne Hill Velodrome. From there they moved to the Nest and in 1919 they bought land on which to build Selhurst Park.

Archibald Leitch, a familiar name who designed many football stadiums around that time, drew up the Crystal Palace stadium plan. Once opened, there were few changes made to the stadium until the Arthur Wait Stand was built in 1969.

The Crystal Palace F.C stadium continued to be updated, with the Main Stand being converted to an all seater stand in 1979. In the early 1990’s, when English football teams were advised to convert their stadiums into all seaters, Palace rebuilt the Holmesdale Terrace, replacing it with a stand of two tiers. 

The highest attendance at Selhurst Park is 51,482, achieved in 1979, but after the stadium was made into an all seater venue, the capacity was reduced and now holds a maximum of 26,309 spectators. 

There were plans to move back to the Crystal Palace National Stadium, the club’s first home, but those plans have been shelved. Instead, the club are looking to redevelop their current stadium.

The Crystal Palace stadium location is South Norwood, Croydon, London.

Supporters

Crystal Palace supporters primarily come from the surrounding areas of South East London, though the club have many supporters clubs throughout the country and beyond. 

At home matches, a group called the Holmesdale Fanatics supply a lot of the match singing and atmosphere. This ultras group was set up in 2005 and the atmosphere on match days has greatly improved.

The Crystal Palace Supporters Trust are one of the main Crystal Palace supporters clubs. It was primarily set up to help with the purchase of the club in 2000. Another supporters club is The Palace Independent Supporters Association, which has developed strong ties with Crystal Palace Football Club and allows for supporters to raise any issues or concerns they have directly with the football club.

There are many Crystal Palace supporters songs. The main Palace anthem, sung before every home match, is their version of Glad All Over, which in turn has been adopted by fans of other clubs.

Crystal Palace football merchandise is amongst the biggest sellers in Premier League football. Crystal Palace football shirts in particular are commonly sold across the country.

With a lot of football teams located in London, Palace fans enjoy rivalries with many different clubs. The strongest rivalry is with Millwall Football Club and Charlton Athletic. There is also a rivalry with Brighton and Hove Albion, which appears to have begun when the two teams met in the Third Division, and continued with a controversial FA Cup match in the 1976/1977 season.

Ownership

The Crystal Palace F.C owners are Steve Parish, Stephen Browett, Jeremy Hosking, Martin Long, Josh Harris and David Blitzer. Parish, Browett, Hosking and Long are all Crystal Palace fans who purchased the club in 2010 to save Palace from financial ruin with the Crystal Palace finances in dire straits. Harris and Blitzer are investors who bought shares in the club in 2015. Parish holds the position of chairman, with the others holding significant shares in the club.

Sydney Bourne was the first ever chairman of Crystal Palace, until he passed away in 1930. In 1949, Arthur Waite purchased the club and became chairman, followed by Raymond Bloye in 1972.

In 1981, Ron Noades bought the club. He remained Crystal Palace owner until 1998, when he sold his shares to Mark Goldberg.

Goldberg was in charge when financial worries threatened the future of the club. Simon Jordan then agreed a deal with the Palace creditors to purchase the club, which he did until more financial woes threatened the club’s future and the company owned by Parish, Browett, Hosking and Long, called CPFC 2010, rescued the club.

Stats

Jim Cannon is the Crystal Palace all time leading appearance maker. Cannon made 663 appearances for the club between 1971 and 1988.

The Crystal Palace F.C player stats continue with the leading goalscorer. Peter Simpson leads the Crystal Palace goalscoring charts with 165 goals in 195 appearances between 1929 and 1935.

Crystal Palace F.C stats also include league finishes. Palace’s highest ever league finish came in the 1990/1991 season when the club finished third in the First Division, now the Premier League. 

The Crystal Palace record league win came in 1959, when Palace beat Barrow 9-0. Their record overall win in any competition is the 8-0 victory over Southend United in the League Cup in 1990. Even this scoreline was surpassed, however, in a friendly in 2014. Palace beat GAK Graz 13-1.

Crystal Palace’s record defeat happened twice. Firstly, in 1909 they were defeated 9-0 by Burnley in the FA Cup. This scoreline was repeated in 1989, when Liverpool beat Palace in the First Division.

Palace’s record Premier League winning streak is five games, taking place between March and April in 2014. Their all time winning streak however is nine games, occurring from February to March in 1921.

Crystal Palace have once appeared in European competition. Palace played in the now defunct Intertoto Cup in 1998. Their European adventure was short lived however, their opponents Samsunspor knocking out Palace in the third round.

Crystal Palace Players

Crystal Palace players 2018 consist of 27 first team players, not including the Crystal Palace Academy players.

Some notable Crystal Palace former players include Ian Wright, Jim Cannon, Kenny Samson, Geoff Thomas, Attilio Lombardo, Andy Johnson, Mark Bright, John Jackson and Johnny Byrne. All of these had huge positive impacts on the club, and all are still revered as fans favourites.

Wright, Cannon, Samson, Thomas, Lombardo and Johnson were named in the Crystal Palace Centenary XI, part of the Palace 100 year anniversary celebrations. This was voted for by the Crystal Palace fans, who voted for the Crystal Palace best players. The other members of the XI were Nigel Martyn, Paul Hinshelwood, Chris Coleman, John Salako and Andy Gray.

Many internationals have played their club football at Palace. Crystal Palace England players include Kenny Samson, Peter Taylor, Ian Wright and Geoff Thomas.

Crystal Palace player salaries are said to be at an average level in the Premier League. 

Palace’s record transfer signing is Christian Benteke, who joined the club for £27 million in 2016 from Liverpool. The highest fee received for a Crystal Palace player was £25 million for Yannick Bolasie in 2016 which Everton paid.

Crystal Palace also have a Ladies team. Crystal Palace Ladies play in the FA Women’s Premier League South. They also have an academy from under 10’s upwards, with Crystal Palace Ladies F.C trials open to everybody.

Crystal Palace Manager

The Crystal Palace manager is Roy Hodgson. Hodgson took the manager’s job in 2017, becoming the 52nd manager in Crystal Palace history. This number includes Crystal Palace interim managers.

Eight men have managed Crystal Palace for two or more spells. These are Tom Bromilow, Arthur Rowe, Malcolm Allison, Terry Venables, Steve Kember, Steve Coppell, Alan Smith and Neil Warnock.

Steve Coppell was voted manager of the Centenary XI, part of the Crystal Palace 100 year anniversary celebrations.

The longest serving manager in Crystal Palace history is Edmund Goodman, who managed the club for 613 matches between 1907 and 1925.

The most successful manager in Crystal Palace history is regarded as Steve Coppell, who led his side to their highest ever league finish, and FA Cup final and victory in the Full Members Cup.

Honours

Crystal Palace are yet to win a major trophy. Crystal Palace F.C honours include one Full Members Cup (1990/1991);  two FA Cup Final runners-up appearances (1990/1991 and 2015/2016); two second tier titles (1978/1979 and 1993/1994); one second tier runners-up place (1968/1969); and four second tier play-off winners (1988/1989, 1996/1997, 2003/2003 and 2012/2013).