PTID 20 Questions with Denny Warren 30th October, 2019
1. How long have you been supporting Palace and why?
I was born in West Norwood and Palace were my local team. I went to Kingsdale school as a youngster and being honest I was bullied as a kid as I was a bit tubby. As a result I took up boxing, built myself up, and at the appropriate time, taught that bully a lesson, knocking him spark out. Getting myself fit and strong at that time, and in my early career as a steel fixer in the building game, certainly helped me out on my days defending our badge on the terraces. We are a proper Palace family and always have been. Margaret was Palace before I met her and I took our son Paul to his first game at the age of 8 and he’s still going, as is our grandson.
2. When was your first home game, who was it against, and what are your memories?
I really can’t remember who we played but I definitely went to my first game with a mate in the early 1960s, I’m sure that 1961 was my first season. I can still remember standing on the grass bank that day way before the Arthur was even built. You could change ends at half time and I usually ended up watching the finish on the Holmesdale terrace if we were kicking that way. In those days the old fellas wore flat caps and I can still remember them shielding their eyes from the sun to watch the game. It was open, we had no roof and the cold and rain went right through us.
3. What was your first away game, who was it against, and what are your memories?
It would probably have been a London derby and I’m fairly certain that it was Millwall at the Old Den in 1964, where I had my first ruck.
4. What is your favourite away ground and why?
I can’t pick out one away ground that I loved the most but I always enjoyed our games at QPR’s Loftus Road. It was always tight there, we were close to the pitch, and we had some memorable ding dongs!
For many reasons the Old Den holds some great personal memories as for many years I was actually Millwall’s “Public Enemy Number 1.” In the 1968/69 season I was down there with a few mates, we went into one of their pubs in New Cross before the game, and my photo was on the wall with “Public Enemy Number 1” scrawled across it. I had my two nephews with me and we had no colours on. The barman recognised me immediately and he whacked me straight over the head with a light ale bottle. I was carted off to New Cross Hospital where I had five stitches in my headwound. After being treated I made it back to the Den for the second half. We won the game 2-0 and one of my favourite players Bobby Woodruff scored. After the game, and as was customary in those days, Millwall came all the way back to our pub in Norwood, The Railway, for another tear up. The story doesn’t end there though. In those days Millwall used to come to Selhurst if their lot were away and the following month, in December 1968, they came down to see Villa play us. I was having a pint in the Clifton when one of my mates rushed in telling me that the Millwall fella who had hit me with the bottle in New Cross was just seen going in to the Holmesdale with his mates. In the ground I spotted him with his little firm and steamed straight into all of them, just like a rugby scrum. As you can imagine I got my revenge on the one who bottled me. Although Margaret and I have been to many Palace games together I have never allowed her to come to Millwall with me. One of their top lads in those days was known as Bomber and he and I are well acquainted.
5. Which other team do you detest most and why?
Brighton due to our history with them going back to the seventies. One year we were down there I took Margaret with me and a copper was deliberately backing his horse into her. I shouted at him a number of times, he took no notice so I had to take a swing at the horse, as I was concerned for Margaret’s safety. The following day there was newspaper coverage stating the horse was badly injured. Mullery also stirred things up but the hatred between the two clubs was already there before he arrived on the scene. There were some great battles in Preston Park.
6. Who is your all- time favourite Palace hero and why?
I have a few heroes - Bobby Woodruff, one of whose shirts I got from the 1968-69 promotion season, and who was my favourite forward, John Jackson who was a great keeper for us and Jim Cannon for his loyalty and commitment.
7. If you could put together a Palace team today with past and present players name 7 players who would get in – one goalie, two defenders, two midfielders, two forwards.
John Jackson in goal, Mel Blyth and Jim Cannon at the back, Jerry Murphy and David Payne in midfield, with Gerry Queen and Bobby Woodruff up front.
8. What game lives best in your memory?
There a number, one of which was the Villa Park semi final with Liverpool when we won 4-3. As the game approached I didn’t have tickets, as they were hard to come by, and Margaret got me two totally by surprise. We actually got two players tickets which were returned to the Box Office.
9. What game disappointed you most?
I wasn’t there, but it has to be the 9-0 defeat to Liverpool. To this day I still haven’t watched the highlights or seen any of the goals from that game.
10. If you didn’t support Palace who do you think you would have supported and why?
Possibly a non-league club. I have seen Croydon play many times and last year I went to see Bromley a few times too.
11. Where do you sit in the ground?
I’ve had a season ticket with my nephew in Block F of the Holmesdale for many years. That is roughly where I used to stand when the Holmesdale was terraced. When we were skint in the 80s I bought a 10 year season ticket to help the club out financially. The ultras have shown us no respect where we sit now and my nephew has had words with them already as we don’t want to be staring at a massive flag being waved during the game. We’re there to watch the game and support the team. Last season in the FA Cup against Grimsby I had to ask two of those ultras to sit down as I cannot stand for more than 5 minutes in my current condition. After telling them that I hoped that they were not going to stand up for the whole game I was told to “f**k off and find another seat.” They had absolutely no idea who I was, and they showed me no respect, so shortly afterwards I said to them again, “If you don’t sit down soon you will be sleeping for the whole of the second half.” That had the desired effect!
12. If you could afford a season ticket anywhere in the ground where would it be?
I would stay in the Holmesdale.
13. If you won the lottery would you buy a stake in the club and if so what would you try and change?
I would reduce entrance prices and also the price of food and drink.
14. Who is your favourite all time Palace manager and your worst?
Big Mal was my favourite and Alan Smith was the worst. I was once in Brighton drinking, Palace weren’t playing and a bloke came into the bar wearing a fedora, clad in gold and smoking a cigar. He wasn’t a Palace fan and so I politely asked him if he was taking the piss out anyone and he said “Yeah that Palace c**t Allison so I promptly knocked him out. As for Alan Smith, well he was just clueless and useless.
15. Have you any claims to fame or secrets about your time as a Palace supporter that you would like to share?
How long have you got and where shall I start!? Here’s a few:
· my picture is on the wall at the back of the Victory club. Whenever I go in to the club I always get a round of applause as a mark of respect
· in 1969, at our last home game against Fulham, I was lucky to get Bobby Woodruff’s shirt which I wore every Sunday when I played. I used to play for Palace People in the Croydon Sunday League which was set up by Chris Wright. This was a team of Palace lads who went away together. Margaret and I took over running the team for 11 years. We played on Pitch 11 on Purley Way
· I’ve dated a couple of the original Palace Dollies
· In March 1969 we had an important game against Oxford United at home which we needed to win. We were 1 up and the referee added far too much injury time on and they equalised with the game ending in a draw. As the final whistle was blown I ran straight on to the pitch and kicked the referee right up the arse. That night the Palace fans were so angry that they totally smashed up Oxford’s team coach
· We once took the home end at Oxford in 10 minutes. We had heard of the reputation of the Cox Brothers and I hunted them down and sorted them both out. They even came back to Selhurst subsequently, they marched into the Clifton for a return, and I sorted them out again
· One little funny story is that we were running late at a Walsall match many years ago and one of my mates pinched a milk float in the town which we all jumped on to get us to the game on time. At that game I can also recall a Walsall fan standing in the middle of the road waving a sword at us. How times have changed
· Despite my reputation I was actually made steward for a train up to Sunderland in the 1976 cup run. I was Head Steward of Train number 4 that day in 1976. The rationale was that by making me steward the fans would not take liberties and damage the train with me in charge! We left London at 8.00am and our train arrived there first. We had two coppers on our train and we got them both well and truly pissed before we arrived. That day I can still remember us getting pelted by the Sunderland fans with darts which then was pretty normal
· It’s not Palace related but a little secret is that I actually developed a soft spot for Hartlepool after going there one season and even went to support them at Watford one year
16. Who is your all-time favourite television commentator who you enjoyed listening to commentating on Palace matches and as a youngster did you prefer MOTD or The Big Match?
Brian Moore was my favourite commentator and I preferred the Big Match. I still love watching Brian Moore commentating on that famous 5-0 win against Manchester United. What a performance that was.
17. What do you miss about Palace from the 60s 70s 80s 90s? What do you like and dislike about the modern game?
I miss terracing, the crowd surging backwards and forwards, and having a beer in the ground. I used to drink regularly after the games in our social club with some of our Scottish players including Jim Cannon, John McCormick, Roger Hynd, and Gerry Queen. In those days we were much closer to the players and they socialised with us regularly. Today the referees are far too old, they make poor decisions which VAR is now starting to address, the players are way overpaid, and they keep far too distant from the fans.
18. Would you like the club to stay at Selhurst or move to another location?
I would have loved us to move back to the National Sports Stadium at the top of Anerley Hill where we started out. It’s got better access with lots more parking.
19. Who was (or is) your favourite chairman and your worst and why?
I really felt sorry for Mark Goldberg and quite liked him. He was ripped off by Noades who has to go down as the worst. Mark was one of us, a fan, and I can remember him supporting the club on the terrace at the bottom of the Holmesdale.
20. Tell us what happened on the night that Cantona jumped into our crowd?
I was at the back of main stand with my mates and rushed down as it all kicked off. A hot cup of cup of tea got thrown over me as I got pitchside and suddenly Paul Ince jumped up and punched me straight in the eye unexpectedly from an angle. The punch made me stumble as I was off balance with one foot on one step and the other on another. It didn’t knock me down though and as I steadied myself to launch one back at him he was on his toes and back on safe ground in the middle of the pitch. I would have knocked him spark out without a doubt. I was pulled out of the crowd by two stewards and taken down the tunnel where Matthew Simmons was already waiting with deep stud marks right across his neck. Ginger the copper came to speak to us both to say that Cantona wasn’t going to get charged at all but after seeing the marks on Matthew and my eye which was black by now, a decision was taken to nick them on their coach away from the ground. The police were worried about a riot occurring and wanted to get their team bus away from Selhurst before taking action. Can you imagine if Cantona had done that down Millwall? He would have left the ground in a body bag! After the incident we had newspapers camped outside our house – all of the daily nationals wanted to speak to me as well as Sky TV. The local kids loved it having all this attention in their street. The News of the World even offered me £10,000 for my story but I refused to take it.
Chris Wright discredited me as a character and sold his story for £500 to a national paper stating that I was a “vicious violent racist thug” which was absolutely ridiculous, particularly the racist claim. In court Paul Ince brought in his father as a character witness, who he hadn’t seen for some 15 years. Chris Wright’s statement discredited my evidence as a witness and as Ince was backed up by his Dad, who hadn’t been in his life hardly at all, he got off scot free. I was made a laughing stock and yet the reality was that Ince attacked me unprovoked. It’s just a shame that he ran away after landing a sly punch before I could put one on him. The other slightly amusing thing is that we recently found out that Ince’s solicitor defended Gary Glitter a few years back which says it all. I would still like to speak to Chris Wright by the way.
A couple of months later in April 1995 we all went to Villa Park for the replay with United and were having a few beers in a pub when a load of them piled in screaming and shouting looking for Matty Simmons. That was the day that Paul Nixon sadly lost his life. Matty Simmons was definitely their Public Enemy Number 1 just like I was Millwall’s many years before.
After the Cantona incident Noades refused to offer me and my son a season ticket at pitchside in any stand. The following season, when the new Holmesdale stand was opened, we had to sit right at the back in the upper tier, well out of harm’s way.
As you’ve got some great history and memories let’s continue on ….
What is the most intimidating ground that you’ve been to?
There’s two grounds - Leeds Road, Huddersfield’s old ground and Manchester City’s old Maine Road. I’ve been in the home end in both of them.
If you could have played for Palace which position would you have played in?
Centre forward, in Bobby Woodruff’s number 9 shirt that he gave me
Tell us about the 60s and 70s, and your experiences following the Palace
In those days we had to catch overnight trains. Trains were the cheapest way to travel then. I can remember an away game at Carlisle when we all went up to a nightclub in Tottenham Court Road before getting the train just before midnight. We arrived up there in the early morning around 5.00am, freezing cold with nothing to do, and nowhere to go, waiting for a café to open. That particular morning we had a massive game of football in the early hours in a car park to keep warm. There must have been nearly 100 on each side, seriously.
In 1968/69 season I went up to see us at Preston with my two nephews Derrick and Gordon. We ended up in the Preston end attacking their lot with fire extinguishers and we were all arrested. In custody I was booted around by a copper wearing steel toe capped hobnail boots and when we thought it had all finished they swung open the door and hosed us down with water. We were drenched, freezing cold and hundreds of miles from home. When the shift changed the new coppers on duty thought we had pissed ourselves deliberately in the cell and that caused more aggro on us. In court I got a £20 fine and afterwards the lads had a whip round for me on the Holmesdale terrace, which raised £22, so I made a little bit of profit!
Another time a load of us went down to Brighton to see them play Barnsley. The game had nothing to do with Palace whatsoever. We knew that Barnsley wouldn’t have many there so we thought we’d have a day out and give them a hand. After going around the pubs we met up with a small group of Barnsley supporters, probably no more than 10 in number, and went with them into the Brighton end for a scrap making sure that Brighton knew exactly who we were.
What are your memories of the 1979 Promotion Game with Burnley?
I was paralytic by 1.00pm in the Clifton. The crowds started to gather and as it got busier and busier we started to worry that we wouldn’t get in. At 5.30pm we joined the queue. The game itself was so tense, we got the win we needed, and after invading the pitch, a big group of us marched off to Croydon’s Bier Keller to celebrate, with Chris Wright leading with his St Bernard dog by his side.
Is there a big Palace game that you missed during your lifetime that you wished you had been at?
No. I was even at that Mercantile Tournament when we appeared at Wembley for the first time in our history.
What was your stance when there was talk of us merging with Wimbledon?
I was totally against it. At one away game Chris Wright managed to get a number of us into the Director’s box to demonstrate against Ron Noades. As the game started we piped up singing “Noades out” and quickly got ejected. That took him by surprise though and it was priceless to see his face.
What memorabilia do you possess?
My most favoured possession was Bobby Woodruff’s shirt which I wore regularly and played in, but sadly I have no idea where it ended up. I have many home shirts going back years.
How did you used to dress as a youngster following Palace?
I was a proper skinhead in a Harrington jacket, braces, sta press, and Dr Marten boots. As fashion changed I also used to wear a smart green leather jacket and I used to tell coppers not to dare to even touch it.
Were you there when Ian Wright kissed his shirt and sent us down at Arsenal? What are your thoughts of Wrighty?
Yes I was there. I can’t stand Ian Wright’s bias towards Arsenal. The reality is that we gave him his chance and yet he rarely recognises that. The other thing to remember is that Mark Bright made him the player he was and deserves full credit for that.
Who were the greatest forwards in the 60s and 70s you’ve seen in a Palace shirt?
Bobby Woodruff, Alan Whittle, Mike Elwiss and Peter Taylor
Which London Derbies did you used to look most forward to?
Millwall and Charlton. Both clubs could pull in massive crowds just like us. Millwall used to get 48,000 there and Charlton, with that massive side terrace, could get over 70,000 at the Valley.
If you could wish us win one major trophy what would that be?
I would love to see us play competitively in Europe. I went to Italy to see us play Cagliari and Milan in the 1971 Anglo Italian Cup which was a great experience. We drove over there in a van. They were great days with the likes of Bobby Tambling playing for us. Of course I also want to see us get our hands on that FA Cup as winners too.
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