Patrick McCarthy (Charlton)
Crystal Palace were another side who changed managers last season and for them it worked spectacularly. Under Peter Taylor Palace started the season reasonably well but soon slipped into the bottom half prompting Simon Jordan to act and change managers. In came Neil Warnock and his affect wasn't exactly instant as they were thrashed by Watford and looked in real danger at the bottom. Against QPR they were played off the park but escaped with a 1-1 draw and that seemed to be a turning point for them. Warnock gave youth a chance and the likes of Scannell, Bostock and co impressed and with the goals of Clinton Morrison they went on a stunning run to push into the playoffs and finish the season as the form side in the division. They were favourites for the playoffs
but were poor in the first leg losing at home to Bristol City. They
were much better in the second leg and were really unlucky to lose
2-1 again as Ben Watson missed a penalty with his side a goal up
and with that miss is side missed out on a place at Wembley.
After last year's success Neil Warnock will be expecting more of the same and starting from scratch at the start of the season he will fancy his chances of the playoffs. Palace have lost players this summer though that could hinder their chances. Mark Hudson has gone to Charlton and the big defender was a key player for them last year whilst John Bostock and Clinton Morrison have also gone with Ben Watson expecting to leave in the next few days. Warnock is a shrewd operator though and in Victor Moses and Sean Scannell he has two quality young players to build the side around and the signing of Nick Carle in midfield gives them a readymade replacement for Ben Watson. It will be interesting to see how they do this season, last year they gathered great momentum and if they can do that again they will fancy their chances of automatic promotion. I think they will miss Morrison up front and replacing his goals remains the key for them. Another crack at the playoffs is something
they are well capable of I expect Warnock to be going all out for
the end of season lottery again next May. PREDICTION: 6th in the Championship
I asked Crystal Palace fans on an unofficial message board for their thoughts on the new season and here is what they had to say. How do you think Crystal Palace will fare this season? After last season's finish I expect us to go straight up this season Who are your players to watch out for? Victor Moses should be a regular this year and is a very good player Is your Manager the right man for the job? Yes, he took over when we were in a right mess and almost got us promoted, i think he'll finish the job this year Which three teams will be promoted this season? Birmimgham, Palace and Sheffield United Which teams will be relegated? Swansea, Doncaster and Southampton How do you think QPR will fare this season? Hopefully struggle more due to Dowie than anything against your club. With the money you have though I think you'll make the playoffs.
Mikele Leigterwood left on better terms, the midfielder/defender spent several years at palace before moving to Sheffield United after the side failed to win promotion in 2007. Fitz Hall also had an impressive spell at Palace before moving to Wigan. At Palace Dougie Freedman began his career at QPR. He was in the same youth team as Kevin Gallen and Danny Dichio and with Les Ferdinand at the club at the time the club opted to let him move to Barnet and he has gone on to have an excellent career scoring plenty of goals for Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace. Back in the 1980's we seemed to share players all the time. Mike Flanaghan and Terry Fenwick had spells at both clubs as did manager Terry Venables. Andy Gray joined QPR in 1989 before moving onto Palace where he helped them to the FA Cup final. Perhaps the best known though is Clive
Allen who is a legend at QPR. The goal machine scored 72 goals in
his two spells at Rangers and spent a season at Selhurst Park in
1980/81.
When this web site first started the game against Crystal Palace turned out to be a huge one. First off we faced them away when Terry Venables was in charge of the Eagles. On loan Rob Steiner earned Rangers a point as we began to move clear of relegation worried. By the time we played them again relegation was bang on our minds. It was the last day of the season and we needed a win to stay in the division. It was a very tense atmosphere unlike anything I’ve ever seen at Loftus Road up until that point. Thankfully though Palace didn’t turn up and Rangers ran riot. Chris Kiwomya scored a hat trick and even Tony Scully, George Kulscar and Tim Breacker got on the score sheet in a brilliant 6-0 win as Rangers scored more goals in 90 minutes than they had in the previous eight games. After surviving Rangers had a better season the following year but struggled against our London Rivals. At Selhurst Park Rangers had Karl Ready and Danny Maddix sent off and were beaten 3-0, although the score line did slightly flatter the home side. The return game was played on my birthday and I travelled back to the game from Middlesbrough after visiting my girlfriend at University. It wasn’t worth the trip though as Clinton Morrison got the only goal and Rangers faint playoff hopes were ended. We were the first visitors to Selhurst for the 2000/01 season and after a draw in our first game against Birmingham hopes were high for this game. Mikkel Forssel gave the home side a first half lead but we fought back well after the break and Clarke Carlisle scored his first goal for QPR to earn us a point. By the time we met again we were in dire trouble at the bottom of the table where we would stay and eventually be relegated. Peter Crouch gave us an early lead against palace but we conceded just after half time and the draw was not really good enough as we sank further into relegation misery. In the 2005/06 season. Palace did the double over QPR. Live on Sky Rangers did their usual when on the tv and played like twats. Reich scored twice early on to put his side 2-0 up before Gareth Ainsworth scored his first of the season to give us hope. Rangers threw everything forward and young Shabazz Baidoo almost grabbed a second goal late on but Palace eventually caught us on the break and killed the game off. At Selhurst Park Palace again raced into a two goal lead with some woeful defending by Rangers. This was Gary Waddock's second game in charge and an experiment to try Matthew Rose in midfield was quickly changed and we looked brighter in the second half as Scott Donnelly created a goal for Furlong and despite several late chances we ended up unlucky to be on the losing side. In 2006/07 season we had mixed fortunes against Palace. At Loftus Road we thrashed them with the one of our best performances of the season. A cracker from Jimmy Smith drew us level int he first half before we fell behind just before half time. We fought back though and goals from Lomas, Gallen and a second from Smith helped us to a famous victory. Just a month later though we were brought back down to earth when Palace thrashed us 3-0 at Selhurst Park. Last season Palace again remained unbeaten against us. We played themoff the park in November with Scott Sinclair scoring and Rangers had several guilt edge chances to kill the game off and win by a hatful. We didn't though and ended up comceding late on to Clinton Morrison. That saw Palace turn things around and by the time we played them again they were bang in form. We took the lead through Damien Stewart but Palace hit back with Morrison scoring again in a 2-1 win for Neil Warnocks side. Click on the match for a report of the game from this web site.
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