Crystal Palace F.C - What A Season ! The Facts and Stats.

Darren Ambrose celebrates putting Palace 2-1 up at Hillsborough in the final game of the season.

Palace boss Paul Hart & his management team celebrate Championship survival at the final whistle yesterday, whilst Sheffield Wednesday boss Alan Irvine can only look down in frustration, as his team are relegated.

Crystal Palace Football Club - Season 2009/10

Final game of the 2009/10 Season: Sheff Wed 2-2 Crystal Palace

Final Championship Position: 21st

Total games played season 2009/10: 53 ( inc. 7 cup ties)

Total league games played: 46

Points total: 49

Games won in total: 14

Games drawn in total: 17

Games lost in total: 15

Home form: Won 8 Drew 5 Lost 10

Away form: Won 6 Drew 12 Lost 5

Total goals scored: 50

Total goals conceded: 53

Clean sheets in the league: 9

Top scorer: Darren Ambrose (20 in ALL competitions)

Most assists: Darren Ambrose (11 in ALL competitions)

Hat-rick(s): One - Danny Butterfield v. Wolves FA Cup 4th Rd Replay, Selhurst Park, 02/02/10

Most games played by a single player: 53 - Shaun Derry

Players sent off: 5 - Lee Hills, Paddy McCarthy, Neil Danns, Matt Lawrence, Claude Davis

Most yellow cards: 12 - Clint Hill

FA Cup progress: Reached the 5th Round. Lost to Aston Villa in a replay, 24/02/10

Coca-Cola League Cup progress: Reached 2nd Round. Lost to Manchester City, 27/08/09

Highest home league attendance: 20,642 v. Newcastle, 22/08/09

Lowest home league attendance: 12,328 v. Swansea, 09/02/10

Biggest home win: 4-1 v. Blackpool, 03/10/09

Biggest home defeat: 0-4 v. Scunthorpe, 12/09/09

Biggest away win: 4-2 v. Reading, 08/12/09

Biggest away defeat: 0-2 v. Newcastle, 27/01/10

Points total without deduction: 59

Finishing position without points deduction: 13th

A History of Idiosyncratic Events in Football – Part Four

--------------Kings Of The Drop--------------

There is nothing worse for a professional footballer (injury excluded) than relegation, unless of course, it's more relegation.

Carlton Palmer, perhaps surprisingly for a player who otherwise had a relatively distinguished playing career, which included eighteen full England caps - is right up there with the 'Kings Of The Drop,' having gone down five times with West Brom (1985/86), Sheffield Wednesday (1989/90), Nottingham Forest (1998/99), Coventry (2001/02) and Stockport County (2002/03).

Neil Redfearn can also write the names of five relegated employers on his 'Curriculum Vitae.'
Bolton (1982/83), Lincoln (1985/86), Barnsley (1997/98), Charlton (1998/99) and Halifax (2001/02).
Redfearn's playing career spanned over twenty years and he played for 13 different league clubs. Redfearn is currently fifth in the all-time list of most Football League appearances. His last league appearance for Rochdale in 2004 took his total to 790.

Perhaps the biggest 'Jonah' of them all is poor Simeon Hodson, (below right) who managed to taste relegation three times before his 21st birthday!

In all Hodson has been involved in teams relegated from the top five levels of the English football league system.

Notts County (1983/84) relegated from the old First Division, Lincoln (1985/86) relegated from the Third Divsion, Lincoln again (1986/87) relegated from the Fourth Division.
In 1990/91 he was part of the West Bromwich Albion team relegated from the Second Division.

In 1992/93 he was a member of the Mansfield Town team relegated from the Second Division also, which following the inception of the FA Premier League, was now the third level of the league system.

It is worth noting that, though he left before the season's end, he played for Notts County in the 1984/85 season when they went on to be relegated from the Second Division. Consequently, his first four seasons saw him involved with clubs relegated from the top four levels in order. Incredibly, his fifth season (1987/88) saw him initially at Newport County (but he left two months before their demise to join West Brom), as they went on to be relegated from the Fourth Division.
That makes five relegations and one near miss in a League career of just ten seasons.

To cap it all off, in 1999/2000 he was relegated from the Football Conference with Altrincham.......to complete the set!

Thus, he can claim to have been relegated from the top five levels of the English football league system with five different clubs.

In 2001, aged 35, a knee injury forced Hodson to retire. He is now a PCSO for the Warwickshire Police.

Classic Football Quotations said by Football Fans or made about Football Fans - Part Two

It'll be a good day for the burglars and one one when the sheep will be left in peace - DICK CAMPBELL, Brechin City manager, on the exodus of fans from the city (population 10,000) to Rangers for a Scottish Cup tie, 2001.

To celebrate Arsenal's defeat in Europe, 10 per cent off everything - ADVERT by the food retailer 'World of Kosher' in the Jewish Chronicle, 2004.

The fans all had the the complexion and body scent of a cheese and onion crisp, and the eyes of pit-bulls - MARTIN AMIS, novelist, reviewing a book on football hooliganism, 1991.

A policeman called me at home. Friday night again. He'd caught a dozen courting couples in the stand and asked me what to do with them. I told him to fix the bloody fence and board 'em in. Best gate of the season it would have been - FRED WESTGARTH, Hartlepool's manager, 1957.

We don't need Viagra to stay up - BANNER by Charlton fans, a month before their team were relegated, 1999.

I always answer letters from supporters. It's death threats I object to - REG BURR, Millwall chairman, 1990.

Even the hooligans had a good time and enjoyed the party. Maybe the cannabis relaxed them - JOHAN BEELAN, Dutch police chief, on the behaviour of England fans in Eindhoven, 2000.

The English stick their psychos in Broadmoor, while the Welsh put theirs in Ninian Park - FULHAM FANZINE, There's only one F in Fulham, awarding Cardiff supporters 0 out of 10 in their 'Best Fan' poll, 1995.

I expect abuse, but I also got a hamburger and about £4.50 in change - GARY NEVILLE, Manchester United captain, on objects thrown at him by Liverpool fans at Anfield, 2006.

Will the owner of a horse attached to a rag-and-bone cart in the visitors' car park return to his vehicle immediately - ANNOUNCEMENT at Cardiff City when West Ham were the visitors, 2004.

He told me I was a dead man and that I wouldn't get out of The Den alive. Then he said I was fat. I said: 'Have you looked at yourself lately?' - KEVIN PRESSMAN, Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper, on being confronted by a pitch invader at Millwall, 1995.

Are you Tamworth in disguise? - SONG by Burton Albion fans as Manchester United were held 0-0 in the FA Cup against the non-league side, 2006.


To see more classic quotations made by Fans, Managers, Chairmen and Players alike posted on this site previously, type Quotations into the search box in the top left hand corner of the page).