By Tom Hughes
Since the English top flight became the Premier League in 1992, Crystal Palace have featured in the division four times.
With the upcoming season’s fixture list set to be announced this week, the reality of starring in the upper echelons of the Football League is very slowly starting to sink in – and my excitement at the possibility of an opening day blockbuster is growing massively.
However, I’m trying to hold my horses with that excitement.
Looking back at past Premier League campaigns it’s probably best to have extremely low expectations for the first game of the year, unless Palace break from the habits of my lifetime.
In the 1992/93 season, things kicked off with a high-scoring 3-3 draw with Blackburn, while two years later things were a lot less entertaining on the first day, suffering a 6-1 thumping at Selhurst Park to Roy Evan’s Liverpool.
The Holmesdale stand without its roof - the day Blackburn came to Selhurst Park in 1992
Less embarrassingly, in August 2004 the Eagles’ first showing resulted in a 1-1 draw away at Norwich thanks to an Andy Johnson equaliser in the 73rd minute. It might not have been embarrassing but the tie hardly set the world alight.
On the other hand, don’t write Palace off and book a last minute holiday for that August weekend just yet.
In 1997 Palace recorded a brilliant 2-1 away win at Goodison Park thanks to the genius of Attilio Lombardo and a Bruce Dyer penalty.
I know that the excitement I’m feeling will soon give way to nerves. Nobody likes to lose, and now we’ve raised the stakes.
To state the obvious; a lot more people pay attention to PL results than the Championship, and everyone has an opinion.
If we thought it was a pain to be written off by Steve Claridge et al, it’s going to be a thousand times worse now.
So I’ll have everything crossed we can give a good account of ourselves on that first significant Saturday in August – whether it’s away at the Etihad or at home to Hull.
But whatever the outcome, this season’s beginning run of three straight defeats proves that a bad start doesn’t always mean a bad ending.
One thing’s for sure, Wilfried Zaha will not be playing in red and blue – something that’s taking far longer to sink in than our Premier League status.
The Eagle has flown: It is hard to believe Wilfried Zaha is no longer a Crystal Palace player
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