Silly old fool?

JRW2

Member
Location
Dulwich
Country
England
Am I the only supporter who has been moved to tears by the footage of our fans heading for the game in Leipzig? As for others posters, it vividly brought home "where we've come from" - in my case, a 2-0 defeat at home to Colchester in the old Third Division South in January 1954. But what has given me the goose bumps is the sheer sight of this great mass of Palace humanity stretching as far as the eye could see, thousands of them, hundreds of miles from home - the togetherness, the discipline, the singing, the determination. Every one of them should feel proud. (And I think I have at last got my emotions under control.)
 
I know what you mean, my first games back in the old division 3 against Rotherham, Mansfield and Hereford and I was hooked.
Then watching the great Liverpool and Forest teams winning the European cup and I’ve yearned for a bit of European football down at selhurst for 51 years…..didn’t think in a million years we’d be winning a European trophy though.
 
It was amazing being in Leipzig with thousands of Palace fans. Many of them families and everyone had a story on how they got there and their journey home.

I got chatting to a Palace lady on the train back to the airport. Her journey home was Leipzig to Corfu, then (same day) Corfu to Stansted and probably National coach Stansted to Victoria. Then train home when they were running. That's a proper effort!

I am so glad I was able to go with my son and join the many thousands of others that made the day and occasion so special. I wasn't as emotional as at the cup final but it is still a trip that I will always treasure.
 
I had a few days already booked in Seville, so my goal was to find a bar with a screen to watch the match. I found one called the Merchant which is an Irish bar and they said they would be showing it. I was surprised by how many Palace fans there were in town to cheer along with. There were also a few Rayo fans and both sets of supporters were great with each other. I spoke and hugged a few fans after we had won. I’m guessing that this was happening all over the world which shows how big we have become? I’ve been going since 1968 and am amazed at our growth as a club. Yes, I’ve seen promotions and cup finals plus a ZDS win at Wembley. But never did I think we would win a real trophy, let alone 3 in just over a year. Bloody unbelievable 🙂
 
Numerous reverses at the hands of the mighty Shrewsbury Town in the 1980s, a nasty festive fixture at Brighton where we lost 3-1, Bradford City beating us 1-2 at Selhurst and a few other memories dominate my earliest Palace memories.

That said, we were forging a team based around the 1989 promotion side so there were some great memories as well (the "five penalties" win against Brighton prominent amongst them).

In some ways it is very different, but in others very much the same.
 
In some ways it is very different, but in others very much the same.
It’s funny isn’t it? I’m sure I’m not speaking just for myself here, but we all go through life where everything’s constantly changing, we change schools, we leave school get jobs, we change jobs, we move house, move to different towns or countries, we have different partners, get married, get divorced, sometimes get married again, knock a few offspring out……but the one thing that has stayed with me all my life and I’m still doing at 60 years old that I was at 8 or 9 years old is traipsing up to Selhurst park to watch palace!!🤣
 

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