As anyone who has supported Crystal Palace for more than a couple of years will tell you, being an Eagles fan is an endurance test. A real-life examination of whether one actually, truly, loves their football club. It can be a masochistic relationship of amazing highs and cruel lows, where fans could be forgiven for washing their hands of it all and living a life of contentment in their sheds, staring at the lawnmower. Palace fans have seen last minute play-off wins, last second play-off losses, two administrations in just over a decade, relegation when it seemed it wasnt possible and promotion when we thought relegation was on the cards. From crisis to ecstasy and back again in seemingly the blink of an eye. That the last two seasons should be looked at fondly, as time of positive growth around the club, says it all about the recent history of the South Londoners in the same time there have been four permanent managers, one caretaker, a hiring and firing of a Director of Football and two massive flirts with relegation and yet... Everything in the garden is rosy. This article is a cathartic look back at some of the more controversial, heart breaking, ecstatic and altogether crazy moments of Crystal Palaces history, where, in spite of it all, we've all lived to tell the tale.
