Robert Exley
Arsenal, of course, have great reason for remembering the late spring/early summer period of 1989. On May 26th 1989 they famously sealed the title at Anfield. For Palace however, a pivotal moment for them came a week later. Now managed by former Manchester United winger Steve Coppell since his retirement from playing in 1984 due to a serious Knee injury at the age of just twenty nine (and a name frequently thrown up as a potential successor to the under-performing Alex Ferguson), Palace went into the Second Leg of the Second Division play-off final (the last season it would be played over two legs rather than at Wembley) 1-3 down to a pre-Jack Walker incarnation of Blackburn Rovers who would actually reach the play off stage three times over four years.
Palace however would book their place back to the top flight after an eight year absence with a 3-0 win at Selhurst Park with two goals from Ian Wright and penalty won on the back of a foul on a moustachioed ‘Steady’ Eddie McGoldrick. Oddly enough however, despite Palace’s absence from the top flight Selhurst Park was still a regular away destination for Arsenal from 1986/87 onwards due to the fact that Charlton Athletic had been evicted from The Valley and forced to ground share with Crystal Palace in September 1985 – a move which brought much in the way of protest from the Charlton fans.
The idea of two sides sharing a ground seemed to have perplexed the TV pundits, as seen here from this Football Focus piece from 1986. Luckily Charlton’s promotion at the end of that season meant that the pundits wouldn’t be ‘confused’ at away teams playing at home for much longer. Palace’s return to the top flight while Charlton remained there for one last season however, brought another round of TV pundits pretending to be bemused that an away team could be playing at home – this time Saint and Greavsie @13.39 (with a great Paul Merson chip against Coventry also featured in this episode too). Palace however would struggle early on during their first season back, famously losing 9-0 to Liverpool at Anfield.
Further trouble hit the Eagles when Ian Wright would be lost to injury until the following May, however on making Nigel Martyn the first £1 million goalkeeper, signing him from Bristol Rovers, Palace managed to turn their season around and even achieved revenge on Liverpool with this excellent 4-3 win in the 1990 FA Cup Semi Final at Villa Park, the winning goal coming from the familiar face of Palace’s current boss Alan Pardew. The following week, Arsenal played Palace at Selhurst Park, a match which ended in a 1-1 draw with Arsenal’s goal coming from Martin Hayes. That year, Palace would go on to play Manchester United in the final. Their Cup Final song was the Palace squad performing a cover version of the Dave Clark Five’s 1964 hit ‘Glad All Over’ (apparently the Palace fans have adopted it since it was originally a hit the 1960s)
The Final was almost as exciting as the Semi and would turn on the introduction of Ian Wright as a substitute in what was his first game back after a long layoff due to injury. That final would be the last great Cup Final for quite a few years, even the replay which United won 1-0 (and saved Alex Ferguson’s job) turn out as a bit of a damp squib with the only thing of note being Les Sealy’s shock call up at the expense of Jim Leighton in the United goal. The following season turned out to be a good one for both Arsenal and Palace, with Arsenal winning the title losing just one game, while Palace achieved their highest ever finish, coming third in the league. The match between the two sides at Selhurst Park in November 1990 however ended in a 0-0 draw.
Palace though did Arsenal a huge favour in the title race after the Gunners were deducted two points for a brawl at Old Trafford. The Eagles beat top of the table Liverpool 1-0 just a few days after Christmas of 1990 (this game was shown live on ITV with an early co-commentating outing for Gary Lineker, seemingly full of praise for Ian Wright). The following season, Arsenal finally got an away victory over Palace for the first time since 1972 with a 4-1 avalanche featuring goals from Michael Thomas (his last for Arsenal), Alan Smith and two for Kevin Campbell. With the forwards featuring heavily among the goals, plus Andy Cole coming through the ranks it was strange to find Arsenal were in the market for a new striker, however Palace’s Ian Wright came to Arsenal later that month for a fee of £2.5 million.
According to Jon Spurling’s ‘Highbury: The Story of Arsenal in N5’ it wasn’t George Graham who bought Ian Wright but David Dein during a telephone conversation with Crystal Palace chairman Ron Noades. The Palace chairman had caused great controversy around the same period by remarking that: ‘the black players at this club lend the side a lot of skill and flair, but you also need white players in there to balance things up and give the team some brains and some common sense’. Wright oddly enough never cited this as a reason for leaving Palace and even claimed that Noades was: ‘the best football boss I'd ever worked with’, giving his official reason for leaving Selhurst Park as he was: ‘born for the really big occasions – Arsenal gave me that stage’.
It was ultimately a self-fulfilling prophecy for Ian Wright, who went on to bigger things with Arsenal, while Palace were relegated at the end of their first full season without him. On his return to Selhurst Park, Wright scored Arsenal’s winner in a 2-1 victory for the Gunners. This fixture was one of the earliest live Monday night Premiership games on Sky Sports, with the full razzamatazz of the Sky Sports cheerleaders dancing to ‘Do you Wanna Be in My Gang’ by Gary Glitter (back in those naïve days when nobody thought to ask what sort of gang Gary was actually the leader of exactly!). Ian Wright secured the points with a second half winning goal.
Before Palace’s relegation at the end of that season there was a further 3-1 victory for Arsenal in the first leg of the Coca-Cola Cup Semi Final at Selhurst Park, with another goal from Ian Wright and two for Alan Smith. By the next time Arsenal came to Selhurst Park, Alan Smith (not that one) was now the Crystal Palace manager and talking here of the post-Premiership financial realities on a piece for News at Ten. Arsenal’s visit to Selhurst Park in late February 1995 (just days after the sacking of George Graham) ended in a 3-0 win for Arsenal with goals from Paul Merson and two for Chris Kiwomya, who Graham had recently signed but didn’t stay in the job long enough to see him play.
Palace finished the season fourth from bottom, but were relegated as a result of the Premiership being reduced from twenty two sides to just twenty. Crystal Palace had returned to the Premiership in 1997/98, drawing with Arsenal 0-0 at Selhurst Park that season in the league in mid-October. This had been the start of a run of games where Arsenal would fail to win six of their following eight games. The run was to end at Selhurst Park, where now Wimbledon had been tenants since Charlton moved back to the Valley in 1992. However this would be due to the match being abandoned due to floodlight failure. A spate of similar floodlight failures at London grounds around the same period aroused suspicions and further investigations led to a conviction for sabotage involving a Far East betting syndicate in August 1999.
From hereafter however, Arsenal would not lose another league match until the title was secured the following May. They would also visit Selhurst Park again in the fifth round of the FA Cup that season, seeing off Palace with a 2-1 victory with goals from Anelka and Bergkamp on their way to the Premiership and FA Cup Double. Palace however would finish the season rock bottom and relegated back to the Football League. It would be another seven years before they returned in 2004/05. Just two weeks after Arsenal’s forty nine match unbeaten run ended Palace held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park. It would be nearly nine years before an Arsenal return to Selhurst Park in October 2013, Arsenal winning 2-0 with goals from Mikel Arteta and Olivier Giroud.
For Crystal Palace however, they remained in the Premiership finishing eleventh in the table, Arsenal’s visit to Palace the following season resulting in a 2-1 win for Arsenal with goals for Santi Carzola and Olivier Giroud. For Palace, this is now their longest spell in the top flight since the early 1990s and their longest of the Premiership era. Selhurst Park however remains a happy hunting ground for Arsenal. Crystal Palace have failed to take all three points at home to Arsenal at home since 1979, however Alan Pardew has revitalised Palace since taking over last January and has managed a few victories over Wenger down the years. Palace’s form last year however hasn’t the only miraculous turn around as far as Pardew is concerned.
In 2006, Pardew had complained of Wenger’s lack of English presence within the Arsenal side, however last year hailed Wenger as greater than Mourinho and said that Arsenal should rename their Stadium after him. Well, as divisive a figure as Arsene now is with the Arsenal fans, surely naming a stadium after him can’t be much worse than naming it after a sponsor… can it? (tin hats on standby).
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