Greatest ever player.

P

Paul Salvage

Member
Location
Bromley
Country
England
I have been thinking about who our greatest ever player was/is?
I don’t just mean who was the best player to ever play for Palace, but who was the best Palace player that went on to become world class.

I started watching Palace as a kid in the early 80s and enjoyed watching the likes of Jim Cannon and Vince Hilaire but they were far from world class. I didn’t really get to see Samson but could he be counted as world class?
Then we had the Wright, Bright and Salako era,but again great players but not top top drawer.
(Yes Wright did well at Arsenal but never done much internationally)

We had a young Ashley Cole on loan for a season, and it was very easy to see he would go on to be one of the best left backs in England and arguably Europe, but he wasn’t ours!
We had a brief period with Lombardo but was past his prime.

This then leads me to the most recent crop of talented players.
Wilf will probably go down as our best ever player, but again not world class maybe because of his attitude. I think the same can be said about Eze, and time will tell I guess.
Then you come to Marc Guehi. I think that when he signed for Palace he was clearly raw, but great potential. I believe he has grown into one of the world’s best centre backs and I expect him to win many trophies in his career.

However for me personally I think our greatest ever player is Olise. He is still very young to be given that accolade (accolade = my opinion🤣) but he is now rated as the best winger in Europe and if you take penalties out of the count he is leading in goal and assists contributions for the season across Europe. IMO if he signs for one of the big Spanish clubs he will win a ballon d’or. (Sorry Lanzo) And if France go on to win the World Cup he will play a big part in that. ( not you JP)

It is a shame that we didn’t get to see more of Olise before he moved on to bigger and better things, but I am sure glad that Palace was a part of that journey.

On reflection we have had some great players down the years, and I’m sure a few older supporters will talk about players going back to the 60s and 70s. But were they world class or just great players for Palace? It is difficult to compare eras.

So finally thank you Palace for bringing us some truly great players, it’s just a shame they don’t hang around.
 
Paul Salvage said:
I have been thinking about who our greatest ever player was/is?
I don’t just mean who was the best player to ever play for Palace, but who was the best Palace player that went on to become world class.

I started watching Palace as a kid in the early 80s and enjoyed watching the likes of Jim Cannon and Vince Hilaire but they were far from world class. I didn’t really get to see Samson but could he be counted as world class?
Then we had the Wright, Bright and Salako era,but again great players but not top top drawer.
(Yes Wright did well at Arsenal but never done much internationally)

We had a young Ashley Cole on loan for a season, and it was very easy to see he would go on to be one of the best left backs in England and arguably Europe, but he wasn’t ours!
We had a brief period with Lombardo but was past his prime.

This then leads me to the most recent crop of talented players.
Wilf will probably go down as our best ever player, but again not world class maybe because of his attitude. I think the same can be said about Eze, and time will tell I guess.
Then you come to Marc Guehi. I think that when he signed for Palace he was clearly raw, but great potential. I believe he has grown into one of the world’s best centre backs and I expect him to win many trophies in his career.

However for me personally I think our greatest ever player is Olise. He is still very young to be given that accolade (accolade = my opinion🤣) but he is now rated as the best winger in Europe and if you take penalties out of the count he is leading in goal and assists contributions for the season across Europe. IMO if he signs for one of the big Spanish clubs he will win a ballon d’or. (Sorry Lanzo) And if France go on to win the World Cup he will play a big part in that. ( not you JP)

It is a shame that we didn’t get to see more of Olise before he moved on to bigger and better things, but I am sure glad that Palace was a part of that journey.

On reflection we have had some great players down the years, and I’m sure a few older supporters will talk about players going back to the 60s and 70s. But were they world class or just great players for Palace? It is difficult to compare eras.

So finally thank you Palace for bringing us some truly great players, it’s just a shame they don’t hang around.
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Michael Olise 100% and agree with your points. Weve had some very good players but Olise is the only world class player. There isnt a week go by when he isnt providing 1 or more goals and assists for Bayern. Perhaps we could get him back if we diverted the £150m loan intended for the main stand for his transfer fee and wages instead?
 
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Paul Salvage said:
I have been thinking about who our greatest ever player was/is?
I don’t just mean who was the best player to ever play for Palace, but who was the best Palace player that went on to become world class.

I started watching Palace as a kid in the early 80s and enjoyed watching the likes of Jim Cannon and Vince Hilaire but they were far from world class. I didn’t really get to see Samson but could he be counted as world class?
Then we had the Wright, Bright and Salako era,but again great players but not top top drawer.
(Yes Wright did well at Arsenal but never done much internationally)

We had a young Ashley Cole on loan for a season, and it was very easy to see he would go on to be one of the best left backs in England and arguably Europe, but he wasn’t ours!
We had a brief period with Lombardo but was past his prime.

This then leads me to the most recent crop of talented players.
Wilf will probably go down as our best ever player, but again not world class maybe because of his attitude. I think the same can be said about Eze, and time will tell I guess.
Then you come to Marc Guehi. I think that when he signed for Palace he was clearly raw, but great potential. I believe he has grown into one of the world’s best centre backs and I expect him to win many trophies in his career.

However for me personally I think our greatest ever player is Olise. He is still very young to be given that accolade (accolade = my opinion🤣) but he is now rated as the best winger in Europe and if you take penalties out of the count he is leading in goal and assists contributions for the season across Europe. IMO if he signs for one of the big Spanish clubs he will win a ballon d’or. (Sorry Lanzo) And if France go on to win the World Cup he will play a big part in that. ( not you JP)

It is a shame that we didn’t get to see more of Olise before he moved on to bigger and better things, but I am sure glad that Palace was a part of that journey.

On reflection we have had some great players down the years, and I’m sure a few older supporters will talk about players going back to the 60s and 70s. But were they world class or just great players for Palace? It is difficult to compare eras.

So finally thank you Palace for bringing us some truly great players, it’s just a shame they don’t hang around.
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Great analysis. I think the distinction between "best ever for us" and "best player either for us or elsewhere" is an important one.

Some other names just to provoke discussion:

1. Nigel Martyn. I rate him as one of the very best goalkeepers we have had. Maybe not world class, unless you are judging a player by the very best you've ever seen them play: if so, he had some outstanding performances for us which are very much on a par with those by goalkeepers considered world class (Shilton; Seaman; Schmeichel Snr etc).

2. Edgar Davids. Pony for us, but in his prime he was one of the most imperious defensive midfielders in the game.

3. Emmanuel Adebayor. Again, terrible for us, but a Champions League Finalist, African player of the year. The years he was at Arsenal, Man City and the loan at Spurs showed he was fairly prolific at the highest level.
 
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Good post.
I agree , at his current level /age I think that Olise will go on to do the most in the game, out of any ex Palace player.
Gutting that he could have played for England.

The best Player I’ve ever seen /enjoyed watching for Palace was Ian Wright, followed by AJ. All about the strikers for me.
 
I think Guehi is in the same camp as Olise in being one of the best in the world in his position.

Not as glamorous as being an attacker, but I predict after 6-12 months at City he will be widely recognised as the Prem’s best centre half.

An honourable mention to Victor Moses who also played at a really high level; Premier League, Europa League and AFCON winner - great CV!
 
CPFCSaturn said:
I think Guehi is in the same camp as Olise in being one of the best in the world in his position.

Not as glamorous as being an attacker, but I predict after 6-12 months at City he will be widely recognised as the Prem’s best centre half.

An honourable mention to Victor Moses who also played at a really high level; Premier League, Europa League and AFCON winner - great CV!
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I predict he will be lauded at the world cup or rather Pep will be for having discovered and trained a world class CB.
 
CPFCSaturn said:
I think Guehi is in the same camp as Olise in being one of the best in the world in his position.

Not as glamorous as being an attacker, but I predict after 6-12 months at City he will be widely recognised as the Prem’s best centre half.

An honourable mention to Victor Moses who also played at a really high level; Premier League, Europa League and AFCON winner - great CV!
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For me, he already is.
People would maybe say about Gabriel and Saliba, but they are only as good when they play together. Gabriel does offer a goal threat, but that is because the gooners cheat at set pieces with all the holding and blocking. I’m not sure how they get away with so much.
Marcs’ calmness and reading of the game make him stand out above the rest.
 
So there’s 150 odd world class players in each position then?
Over 1600 world class players, at any one time ?? wtf.

What about the Gibraltar left back ‘par de zapatos’ who’s a load of old cobblers, but weirdly is a ‘cobbler’ mon-Fri ?



Mystic Smeg said:
Wild all day long
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Mystic Smeg said:
Played for his country so that qualifies as world class to me
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Zaha. He won games on his own and while Olise is now a great player he really only had about a really good 18 months for us. Zaha did it for years and I don’t get the apparent animosity towards him.
 
waterfordpal said:
Zaha. He won games on his own and while Olise is now a great player he really only had about a really good 18 months for us. Zaha did it for years and I don’t get the apparent animosity towards him.
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In terms of performances at Palace, I completely agree with this - I've not seen anyone close to Wilf in terms of quality, consistency and longevity.
 
There is a very good chance that Michael Olise will go on to be a BallonD'or winner. Potentially multiple times. Would be hard to argue at that point.
 
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