This week at ProSoccerTalk we will be detailing what we love about each Premier League club competing in the 2019-20 season and next up it is Crystal Palace.
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Each day we will release details on why who adore each team in particular as we remind ourselves just how awesome the PL is as we await its return following the suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Kayla: You may have not known her name, but Kayla the eagle is Crystal Palace’s mascot and flies around the stadium before matches. Canadian-born, she also bears the distinction of being featured in Kings of Leon’s “Only By The Night” album artwork. Stolen from the wild as a chick, she’s now one of the faces of a Premier League club. Learn more about her here.
Ageless Roy: Okay, he has an age. Roy Hodgson is 72, and he’s been in the dugout for club and countries since 1976, leading (clears throat and applies monocle): Halmstad, Bristol City, Oddevold, Orebro, Malmo, Neuchatel Xamax, Switzerland, Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, Inter Milan again, Grasshoppers, Copenhagen, Udinese, UAE, Viking, Inland, Fulham, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion, England, England U21, and Palace. He’s won a lot more than he’s lost and has silverware from seven of his stops. Plus he seems like a delightful man.
An unusual derby: As we stated on the post for Palace’s rivals, there’s something glorious about the animosity that flows about 40 miles. Palace may be from South London and Brighton from the seaside, but the M23 Derby is still a date to circle on the fixture list and part of many Premier League supporters’ soccer bucket list.
History and music: An amateur club called Crystal Palace began playing, no surprise, at Crystal Palace Park in 1861 and played in the first FA Cup. That club’s existence has not been officially connected to the current group, which was founded in 1905, but is mentioned in club history. 1861! The Selhurst Park faithful also belt out a version of The Dave Clark Five’s “Glad All Over” before matches in one of the unique and stirring connections between a rock and roll band and a top level side; The Dave Clark Five played Selhurst Park in 1968 to kickstart the tradition.
Crystal Palace’s Serbian midfielder Luka Milivojevic celebrates with the crowd after scoring his and his team’s second goal to equalise 2-2 during the English Premier League football match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at Selhurst Park in south London on October 28, 2018. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
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