Crystal Palace Retro Football Shirts

Crystal Palace FC were founded in 1905 by workers at The Crystal Palace. However, the team were not accepted to the Football League in the same year and eventually ended up in the second division of the Southern League. Nevertheless, Palace gained promotion to the top tier of the Southern League for the following season and saw them play their trade in that division until the First World War intervened in 1914. The club had one further season in the Southern League in 1919 before being accepted into the Football League third division in time for the 1920/21 season.

Crystal Palace only spent one season in the third division as they comfortably won promotion to the second division at the first time of asking. Several mid table finishes followed until Crystal Palace moved to their current stadium Selhurst Park in 1924. However, the first season at their new ground saw a disappointing relegation to the third division when at one point Palace were well placed for an assault on promotion. The years that followed were not kind to the club as they spent the fourteen pre war years stuck in the third division despite finishing in the top seven on ten occasions. However, the post war years were terrible for the club who finished in the bottom half on the majority of occasions. Eventually in 1958, the new division four was formed and Palace had to join due to being in the bottom half of the 24 team field. The club didn’t spend too long in the bottom division and won promotion back to the third division in 1961.

This change seemed to alter Palace’s momentum as after a couple of seasons they were promoted back to division two fourty years after they had last graced the division. Several decent finishes were secured before the club secured promotion to division one for the first time in their history in 1969 after a 16 match unbeaten run at the end of the campaign. Nevertheless, the team struggled to establish themselves in the top flight and were relegated back to the second division in their fourth first division season. Following this, the club was rebranded and nicknamed “The Eagles” in a move which also saw the club crest changed to give an image of a bigger team. Ironically, the club were relegated for the second straight season in 1974 back to the third division.

Terry Venables was made Palace manager in 1976 with the task of winning promotion. He did just that in his first season as the club notched the final promotion spot to progress back up to the second division. The first season back saw consolidation but the team managed to win the second division in 1979 to go back up to the top division. The club’s first season was entertaining and saw them top of the first division at one point but they eventually finished in a solid 13th position. Unfortunately, an awful start to the 79/80 season saw Venables resignation but the new manager could not stop the slide and the club were virtually relegated by February. The early 1980’s saw the club struggle to survive in division two until Steve Coppell took charge at the age of 29 in 1984. For several successive seasons, Palace just missed out on the play offs until in 1989 where they beat Blackburn Rovers 4-3 on aggregate in the final to return to the top division.

The club’s first season back in divison one saw a respectable 15th place finish. However, it was in the FA Cup where the club really shone. A fantastic cup run saw Palace reach the final after managing to beat Liverpool in the semi final after extra time. The final against Manchester United saw a thrilling tie which ended 3-3 at the end of extra time. The replay was less glamorous and unfortunately saw Palace on the end of a 1-0 defeat in the only FA Cup final of the team’s history. The 1990/91 season saw the club achieved their best ever finish of 3rd place where for some time they were challenging for the title.

As one of the founder members for the first Premier League season of 1992, Palace were relegated on goal difference to the first division prompting Steve Coppell’s resignation. Coppell handed over the reigns to his assistant Alan Smith who led the club back up the Premiership at the first attempt. Despite the team reaching the semi finals of both domestic cup competitions they were relegated again on the final day of the season. In 1995, Steve Coppell returned to the club as manager. A topsy-turvy period throughout the 1990’s saw Coppell have three seperate spells in charge of the club as they seemed to consistently be relegated and then promoted.

Simon Jordan became Palace chairman in 2000 and immediatley replaced Coppell with previous manager Alan Smith. However, Smith only lasted a season despite saving the club from relegation to division two. Following short reigns from Steve Bruce and Trevor Francis that saw the club remain in division one, Jordan turned to Iain Dowie to revive the club’s fortunes. Dowie transformed the team from relegation candidates to promotion contenders and he amazingly took the club back to the Premier League via the play offs. Despite Dowies valiant efforts, the club were relegated to the Championship on the last day of the 2005 season. The following season saw the club make the play offs again but they were comfortably defeated in the semi final. Dowie resigned soon after and Palace have been stuck as a mid table club in the Championship ever since.