I thought it might be a bit of fun for old farts like to me to take an extended walk down memory lane and reminisce about the seminal 1990/91 season game by game. Alternatively this could die on its arse if no-one is interested but let’s see. The theory is that I will post up a brief summary of each game a day or two before the 30th anniversary date (hard to believe it’s all 30 years ago), and see what reminiscences people have.
Brief context – this was easily the most successful season in the club’s history with a comfortable third place finish and we were in with a realistic shout of winning the bloody thing until a tonking at the hands of eventual champions Arsenal in late February (spoiler alert). We also won the ZDS Trophy, admittedly something of a Mickey Mouse competition but still fantastic to see us winning at Wembley a year after the FA Cup final heartbreak. 1990/91 was certainly the ‘Zenith’ for this team which Steve Coppell had assembled, a collection of cast-offs and lower league bargains alongide a few astute bigger money signings to strengthen in key areas. From memory, we had brought in three players over the summer. John Humphrey came in at right back to replace the popular John Pemberton, who was shunted off to Sheffield United. Eric Young (or ‘Eric Old’ as some Palace fans labelled the 30 year old) arrived to partner his old Wimbledon mate Andy Thorn in the heart of the defence. And another Wimbledon old boy Glyn Hodges was signed to add some creative flair (or so we thought).
From a personal perspective I had turned 18 in the few days between the FA Cup final first game and replay, and after having spent the early part of the summer immersing myself in Italia 90 and the Madchester vibe, I started my first proper job at the beginning of August in the AMP building adjacent to East Croydon station. So the world was my oyster with proper money in my pocket for the first time.
On we go to the first game then, which was on 25 August 1990 away to Luton Town. Again hard to believe now, but Luton were considered a reasonably established top flight outfit then, having gained promotion under David Pleat in the early 80s and stayed put. They’d even won the League Cup in 1988. The game was played in front of a pathetic crowd of 9,583, caused by the ban on away fans which Luton’s extremist right-winger chairman David Evans had imposed. A number of Palace fans did thought infiltrate the stadium, as could be seen when the goals were shown on TV.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw, our goal coming from debutant Eric Young (from memory, a towering header from a corner??). This was deemed a satisfactory result in our opening game as we looked to build on our 15th place finish (out of 22) in the previous season.
Over to you – what memories of this game, and what were your thoughts and feelings as the new season got underway?
Brief context – this was easily the most successful season in the club’s history with a comfortable third place finish and we were in with a realistic shout of winning the bloody thing until a tonking at the hands of eventual champions Arsenal in late February (spoiler alert). We also won the ZDS Trophy, admittedly something of a Mickey Mouse competition but still fantastic to see us winning at Wembley a year after the FA Cup final heartbreak. 1990/91 was certainly the ‘Zenith’ for this team which Steve Coppell had assembled, a collection of cast-offs and lower league bargains alongide a few astute bigger money signings to strengthen in key areas. From memory, we had brought in three players over the summer. John Humphrey came in at right back to replace the popular John Pemberton, who was shunted off to Sheffield United. Eric Young (or ‘Eric Old’ as some Palace fans labelled the 30 year old) arrived to partner his old Wimbledon mate Andy Thorn in the heart of the defence. And another Wimbledon old boy Glyn Hodges was signed to add some creative flair (or so we thought).
From a personal perspective I had turned 18 in the few days between the FA Cup final first game and replay, and after having spent the early part of the summer immersing myself in Italia 90 and the Madchester vibe, I started my first proper job at the beginning of August in the AMP building adjacent to East Croydon station. So the world was my oyster with proper money in my pocket for the first time.
On we go to the first game then, which was on 25 August 1990 away to Luton Town. Again hard to believe now, but Luton were considered a reasonably established top flight outfit then, having gained promotion under David Pleat in the early 80s and stayed put. They’d even won the League Cup in 1988. The game was played in front of a pathetic crowd of 9,583, caused by the ban on away fans which Luton’s extremist right-winger chairman David Evans had imposed. A number of Palace fans did thought infiltrate the stadium, as could be seen when the goals were shown on TV.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw, our goal coming from debutant Eric Young (from memory, a towering header from a corner??). This was deemed a satisfactory result in our opening game as we looked to build on our 15th place finish (out of 22) in the previous season.
Over to you – what memories of this game, and what were your thoughts and feelings as the new season got underway?
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