Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace have the unenviable record of having been relegated after each of their three 
seasons in the Premier League.

Palace were founder members of the Premiership but after drawing their first four games, 
and being as high as 11th, they slumped following successive defeats by Manchester United,
Norwich and Aston Villa, coming to rest in 20th place by 5 September. A draw against 
Oldham arrested the slide and took them up to 17th but the early signs were not good. Even 
a first victory, against Everton, with two goals from Chris Armstrong, didn’t help and losing 
to Southampton put Palace one place off the bottom.

A worse run followed and it was another seven games without a victory before the side 
clicked and reeled off five consecutive wins to end the year 15th. Unfortunately Alan 
Smith’s side couldn’t sustain that improvement and four consecutive January defeats 
meant 19th place going into February. Beating Blackburn and Aston Villa didn’t help and 
only three wins in the final 14 games meant relegation was a certainty, although beating 
Ipswich, on May Day, meant 18th place and possible survival but a draw at Manchester City 
and defeat by Arsenal, on the last day, meant dropping into Division One.

Retaining Chris Armstrong, and with Gareth Southgate scoring goals from midfield, Palace 
acclimatised quickly to Division One and went top just after Christmas, staying there for the 
rest of the campaign and winning the championship for an immediate return to the top flight. 
But The Eagles suffered a bad start to the new campaign and went seven games without a 
win until Arsenal were beaten by a couple of John Salako goals. That win elevated them 
from 21st to 17th but two defeats knocked them back before Palace won four in a row to 
climb to 11th.

Defeat at Manchester United started the downward spiral and nine games without winning 
saw Palace one place above the bottom three. Victory over Leicester elevated The Eagles 
to 16th but inconsistency proved costly and when Arsenal beat them in February the team 
were 20th. April saw a bit of a revival but even two wins and two draws didn’t improve 
matters, neither did the worst away scoring record in the Premiership, and relegation was 
confirmed at Newcastle on the final day.

Palace spent two years back in Division One before winning back their Premiership place via 
the play-offs and they opened their third top flight season with two wins and two defeats 
to rest a respectable fifth but defeats by Southampton and Blackburn saw them slump to 
ninth. Three wins and four draws meant mid-table security but Liverpool’s victory, a fourth 
game without a win, started terminal decline and the last 20 games yielded just two 
victories. Indeed eight successive defeats, from January into April, virtually guaranteed 
another early return to Division One.

The root cause of an appalling third Premiership campaign was the worst home record in 
the entire English game of just two victories and a miserly 15 goals at Selhurst Park, 
although you had to go as high as 10th place, and Leicester, to find a club with more away 
goals.

Managers

Steve Coppell          1984–1993. Technical Director, 1995–1996

Alan Smith              1993–1995

Dave Bassett           1996–1997

Attilio Lombardo       1998 Head Coach