Palace v Burnley (I love the 70s)

[selhurst]

The Greatest Palace v Burnley match…Ever!

http://www.zyworld.com/crawley04/burn01.jpg
Jim Cannon leads out Palace for their match against Burnley, 11 May 1979.

Crystal Palace 2 Burnley 0
Walsh
Swindlehurst

11 May 1979

attendance: 51,482

Palace finished the season as strongly as they started it. And nothing could have been more exhilarating than the spectacle of Palace winning the Second Division championship and clinching promotion all on the same night. A night that Sunderland were denied their promotion place at the same time. A record crowd of 51,482 packed into Selhurst Park and there was hardly a dry eye left by the end of the match.

from Crystal Palace Official Annual 1980

[selhurst]

http://www.zyworld.com/crawley04/burn02.jpg
match action from Palace v Burnley...

[selhurst]

http://www.zyworld.com/crawley04/burn05.jpg
Ian Walsh celebrates his goal, followed by Jerry Murphy and Peter Nicholas.

[selhurst]

http://www.zyworld.com/crawley04/burn07.jpg
the packed Holmesdale terrace.

[selhurst]

http://www.zyworld.com/crawley04/burn04.jpg
Palace fans celebrate promotion on the Selhurst Park pitch.

[selhurst]

http://www.zyworld.com/crawley04/burn03.jpg
Champions!

[selhurst]

On the Friday before the Cup Final between Arsenal and Manchester United, the talk was of a 40,000 crowd. The statistics don’t tell the whole story. That there were 51,482 inside is well documented -–the figure was well above capacity – but that takes no account of the thousands locked outside an hour before. Mid-table Burnley, prompted by the wise, but bald, head of Peter Noble, were plucky but overwhelmed, although you couldn’t tell that to the tightly packed fans who lived on their nerves until Walsh’s bullet header from Hilaire’s cross beat Alan Stevenson. Swindlehurst finished the scoring and Brighton were denied the Championship by a far better team. It was agony for the Rokerites who had travelled down to support Burnley. Their manager watched from the stand as the Selhurst pitch disappeared under the celebrating multitude.

Palace: Burridge, Hinshelwood, Sansom, Kember, Cannon, Gilbert, Nicholas, Murphy, Swindlehurst, Walsh, Hilaire, sub: Fenwick.

Burnley: Stevenson, Scott, Brennan, Noble, Thomson, Robinson, Jakub, Ingham, Morley, Kindon, James.

from ‘We All Follow The Palace’ (Eagle Eye 1993)

[selhurst]

http://www.zyworld.com/crawley04/burn06.jpg
Captain Jim Cannon and Kenny Sansom celebrate.

[selhurst]

http://www.zyworld.com/crawley04/burn08.jpg
Palace with the Second Division trophy.

BACK ROW: John Burridge, Jim Cannon, Paul Hinshelwood, Terry Fenwick, Jerry Murphy, Gerry Francis, Mike Flanagan.

FRONT ROW: David Swindlehurst, Steve Kember, Ian Walsh, Peter Nicholas, Billy Gilbert, Vince Hilaire.

[Stumpy]

Well done Selhurst. This brought back some great memories for me. This was one of the first games that really stick in my mind. I can still remember climbimg over the very small fence at the front of the Arthur Wait and running like hell towards the old tunnel at the end of the game after my Dad had told me not to go on the pitch.
It would have been great if the club could have arranged a reunion of this side for Saturday's game.

[Mat ov CPFC]

What a night !

Truth is I was 12 at the time and we were so tightly packed into the Holmesdale that I hardly saw any of the game. My main memory is of the first goal going in, the Holmesdale going balistic and then not seeing my mates for the rest of the evening. Not that it mattered as the people around me where more than happy to share their Champagne with me. http://www.cpfc.org/ubb/smile.gif

We got the 5.45 train from Forest Hill and by the time we got to the ground at about 6.10 there where MASSIVE queues. We got in about 6.50 and it was un-real to see that many people. As for the attendance I would put it nearer the 60,000 mark given the amount of people being allowed to jump over the turnstiles and whilst it seems dangerous now at the time I only felt elation at being surrounded by so many Palace fans.

In fact I seem to remember that more People saw Palace win the 2nd divison title that year than watched Liverpool win the 1st divison title.

Truly happy days. And to think that Venables was a God that night.


PS Thanks Paul.

[Sugar Loaf]

Happy days indeed. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could win the championship this season, by beating Wolves on 28 April 2001.

OK, I'm dreaming!

[interested in sydney.]

A great post for a great game. Although it was a tension filled night I don't think Burnley actually had a shot on target all night.Thanks to everyone who posted the happy snaps.

[selhurstparkflyer]

Magic, well done Selhurst
What a night- still teh best Palace match ever in my book..the fact that it all happened at Selhurst.
I have asked this before but does anybody have any video of this game?...i have never seen the goals since!!

[Scoot]

Fantastic ... It bought tears to eyes just reading/looking at the posts and remembering how I felt that night !!

Does anyone remember the Last game of the season some 4/5 years later?
Burnley at Home on a Tuesday night, we won thanks to an Ian Edwards goal to STAY UP in the old 2nd.
I think our average gate that season was circa 8000 but we had nearly 23000 that night.
And of course the epic Cup encounter with Burnley around the same time (2/3 replays I seem to recall)


------------------
David Hopkin Looking to curl one .... Absolutely Amazing!

[JJ]

What a superb thread - thanks Selhurst! God, I'm so gutted I wasn't at that match - I was "too young"! I still have, somewhere in my mum's loft, the Daily Mirror from the Saturday morning. The headline was something like Palace triumph at Sell-Out Park, and the last line of the report, verbatim, says "There appears to be no limit to what this fine team can achieve." Should I ever find it I'll post the whole report here.

And yes Scoot, I remember the next one against them to stay up - I was old enough by then! Very tense, but Ian Edwards was a bit of a hero that day! Also by then 23,000 was a massive crowd - we were down to well under 10,000 by then.

[This message has been edited by JJ (edited 07 September 2000).]

[Messenger]

Great match, great thread! It's hard to imagine nowadays Palace having thousands of people locked-out before the kick-off.

[James]

selhurstparkflyer asked:

I have asked this before but does anybody have any video of this game?...i have never seen the goals since!!

Yes - I do. This question keeps coming up, and the answer remains the same! I uploaded mpg clips of the two goals about 6 months ago. Do you want me to find them again?

If there is sufficient interest, I will prepare a video cd of the Palace v Notts. County; Orient v Palace and Palace v Burnley games .... but I will need some time, and plenty of drinks as a thank-you!

James

[ruediger]

Originally posted by James:
If there is sufficient interest, I will prepare a video cd of the Palace v Notts. County; Orient v Palace and Palace v Burnley games .... but I will need some time, and plenty of drinks as a thank-you!



Plenty of drinks will be no problem, James.
Please provide us with a bit of nostalgia.


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Hop Hop

[This message has been edited by ruediger (edited 07 September 2000).]

[Gavin Axten]

Yes please James, definetly worth a few drinks.

http://www.zyworld.com/crawley04/burn04.jpg

[selhurst]

I have quite a good memory of that night. Like Mat, when I arrived at the ground there were massive queues. I had taken my younger brother, who was fairly small. When we finally got into the ground we slowly made our way to the front of the Holmesdale. This took ages, but my brother was allowed to stand infront of the advertisng hoardings, otherwise he would never have seen anything. I didn't want to lose him, so I stood very close by.

When Walsh scored, the Holmesdale surged forward, and we found ourselves on the pitch, along with about 20 others. We were jumping with joy, but people were shouting at us to get off the pitch, as everyone was scared that if there was a large invasion the match might be called off.

When Swindlehurst scored Palace's second we ended up on the pitch again, this time with about 50 others. Everyone knew Burnley couldn't get back from 2-0. We somehow managed to get back on to the Holmesdale terrace, until the final whistle. Then literally thousands of people converged on the pitch, and the partying began.

[selhurst]

I'd love to see the video CD James.

[Neil the Eagle]

Ditto - I think the Brighton goals from that season are also a must for the CD ...

[James]

OK - I promise I'll do it, but please don't push me. It is going to take a few weeks to deal with this (at least). Everyone who wants one will have a 1979 CD by Christmas.

I won't charge for this on the basis that eveyone who has one will make a modest contribution to the CPFC Children's Christmas party; and that I accept no liability for cr*p editing, faulty CD's etc etc.

Deal?

If you accept these terms, post your request here and I'll sort something out when I have a moment.

[ruediger]

Count me in, James.

------------------
Hop Hop

[Gooders]

Yes please James. Terms entirely acceptable.

What a fabulous night that was.

A group of about 10 of us went (we were 19, 20 years old) and by the time the match started we could no longer have stretched out an arm and touched any of our friends - the crowd has simply driven us far apart on the Holmesdale. It's actually a bit scary to think about it - I could barely move at all and spent most of the game watching "side-on" because I couldn't twist myself back to be facing forward.

The crowd on the front cover of the "We all follow the Palace" book was pictured that night wasn't it? I hope so, because for years I've been pointing out my face in the crowd and that of Archiebald Leitch, who can be seen about 3 rows in front of me, even though we started out next to each other!

I remember a huge taunting chorus of "Mullery, Mullery, SHUT YOUR MOUTH" towards the end of the game as we all gazed skywards at every passing plane - we had been told that Brighton (who would have won the league if we hadn't been victorious) were flying out on some post-season jamboree of some sort that night.

And finally a confession that probably belongs on the "sometimes I cringe" thread.

We all ended up at "The Simla" on Parchmore Road and after closing time, drunk to the gills, we repaired to a curry-house in the near vicinity. About 20 of us.

Of course they were over the moon at the fact that 20 pissed-up football "hooligans" had turned up at closing time demanding to be fed very noisily.

The service was understandably awful, the food worse.

After the meal, I announced to my mates that I had no intention of paying for such rubbish and promptly got up and legged it out of the door and all the way home.

The next day, I discovered that everyone had followed my lead - not a one of us ended up paying for anything.

Naughty boys eh?

Great night though.

http://www.cpfc.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

[selhurst]

Originally posted by Gooders:
The crowd on the front cover of the "We all follow the Palace" book was pictured that night wasn't it?

Yes it was Gooders! I found myself too, in the crowd photo on page 1 of this thread.

[Archiebald Leitch]

James, Cumarrrrrn, I'll have a cd please.

Gooders, theres a chap waiting for you in Parchmore Road with a bill dated 1979 for 20 curries, £6.25 including ale.

[Stumpy]

Selhurst,if possible I would love a CD too.
ManyThanks

[selhurstparkflyer]

Many many thanks James

It is me that keeps asking for footage of that game...I tried to download those images from that thread and my pc wouild not let me..so near and yet so far.

Keep us posted when the CD will be available and I will willingly give to Kids' party.

by the way, where on earth did you find that footage on the net???

[James]

I didn't find the footage on the 'Net! I made the mpg clips a couple of years ago (for Tony Dudley's Site).

I have an old betamax recording of the two games leading up to the Burnley climax, plus the goals and some other brief action from the famous game itself. There is about 70 minutes of action - enough for a CD Video.

I did hand out a few copies of the tape to one or two friends (and Swindlehurst got a copy as well - he told me that it was the first time he had seen his goal on video!) - but doing tape copies takes far too long. I can duplicate a CD in 4-5 minutes.

Be patient, I promise that everyone who wants one will have a copy by Christmas.

James

[ammiller]

First things first, Thanks a lot Selhurst, teriffic memories.

I had a season ticket that year in the Old Stand Enclosure (I used to get one every August for my birthday - I think it cost 6.50. I remember getting there about 5 .30 and the ground seeming nearly full then. There seemed to be a lot of white with a red and blue sash flags that day that I hadn't seen before - some entrepreneur must have raked it in. I also remember when it was already 2-0, the ball coming to John Burridge from a back pass, and he was wearing one of those yellow visor things that were fashionable at the time. It was like a cap, only just the peak bit. Also, didn't Jim Cannon hit the bar in the first half? There was also a picture at the time of jubilant scenes from the directors box where all the players were, and in the middle of it all you could see a very fed up looking chairman of Sunderland...


James, can I be added to the list of those wanting a cd of 1979? Thanks in anticipation...

[selhurst]

Can you please add me to the list James, if I'm not already on it. The CD will bring back some great memories.

[trufan]

James, I'd love a CD too please! I went to the game as an 18-year-old, straight from work in West Croydon. Managed to meet my mates en route, and couldn't believe the size of the crowds when we hit Selhurst about 6.15. Once inside, tried to head for our usual spot with the singers in the middle of the Holmesdale - only to find it was already jam-packed. Closest we could get was bottom right, midway between goal and corner flag. The whole match seemed to pass in a dream. I still have hazy memories of the Flatterer, pink late-spring skies, and a huge flag being passed along the Whitehorse from left to right as we looked - seemingly in slow-motion. Mayhem as the goals went in, pitch invasion on final whistle, then the walk back to Croydon with passing cars hooting, flags waving, people singing and, it seemed, even the cops celebrating. Spent the night in some teeming pub (don't recall which!) then bussed it back to Sanderstead with my mate "Bugle Bob." Funnily enough, still had enough voice to sing loud anti-ManU songs as we rolled past their hotel at 2am on the eve of the Cup Final. Still like to think we had a hand in the events of the following afternoon at Wembley. But at the time, nothing but Palace seemed to matter!

[Slimbloke'H']

Selhurst,

Brilliant thread mate.

James,

yes, yes, yes please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Gooders,

You are right about Mullery and the Brighton team, they were on their way to Spain (I think) on an end-of-season tour. I seem to remember that Mullery arranged for an audio broadcast of the match to patched up to the plane. Such a shame for them. http://www.cpfc.org/ubb/smile.gif

I will never be able to decide wether this match, or the F.A. Cup final is my best Palace ‘moment’.

[Blind_Eagle]

Fantastic night that I'll never ever forget. I got to the ground at lunchtime and when they opened the turnstile I was the seventh person in the ground - I know I counted them!!

I vividly remember repeated requested for everyone to move forward as there was "plenty" of space at the front, but we couldn't have moved six inches, let alone get to the front. It was so packed where I was that I dropped my ciggie lighter and it was sitting wedged between my chest and the guy in fronts back. I couldn't reach it and it sat there for about five minutes until the action on the pitch caused a shimmy (no room for a surge)in the crowd and it disappeared never to be seen again. It made the last half hour far more nerve wracking without the calming benefit of nicotine.

After the game I travelled to a small village called Shorne near Gravesend and on entering my local I was given a bleeding standing ovation by the punters! By then I had completely lost my voice and could only use hand signals to order drinks all round. The pub stayed open to gone 3am and we all made the most of it.

One final strange point, a bunch of us felt too drained to watch the cup final the next day and for some reason we went to Southend for a bit of R&R. In the afternoon we left the pubs and had a kick about on the beach with another bunch of - yes you've guessed it - Palace fans who had strangely also decided on a trip to Southend. I have never seen any of these guy's since and often wonder if they still come to watch the Palace.

Please put me down for a CD James. Thanks

[Egg Sample]

Would love CD please - terms accepted!

Selhurst - you should have e-mail

[arussell]

I'd love a copy too James - bit before my time - but they're goals I don't have.

Good idea to make a video CD out of it as well !

[Lord Flange]

Please , please , please can i have a cd as well . I am willing to agree to just about anything to get one .

------------------
tikatiboo

[Goldberg Basher]

Selhurst,

Great pics of a great game. Even though I'm not old enough to remember the game at the time the stories I've read makes up for that.

James,

I'd be very grateful to be put on your list for a CD. Thanks.

[Glaws Eagle]

James,

Could you please put me on you list as well.

May 11th 1979. A night never to be forgotten.

I was at the Whitehorse that night. My over riding memory of the night, apart from the two goals, was The Holmesdale packed to the brim, swaying as one.

Does anybody remember the coach load of Sunderland fans in the corner of the ground? If we had lost, they would have got promoted.

[Neil, yes, another one!]

James - you bloody star - you may remember copying it onto VHS for me a couple of seasons ago, but a CD version would be fantastic - count me in!

[curly c.p.f.c]

JAMES
Said it before and will say it again, U are a star GROVEL GROVEL GROVEL. And by the way can U reserve me a CD to make my Christmas.
No problem meeting your inspired request as payment. I'm sure it will help to make the Party one to remember. I have even dug out my scrapbook from that unforgetable season, after reading this thread. The funniest being "PALACE RECEIPTS SMASHED" £55,648
Also a great photo of Bob Lord, Chairman of burnley watching us celebrating on the pitch afterwards. I might even have a attempt of posting it tomorrow.
Cheer's A.J.Russell

[Sugar Loaf]

Come on Palace, we need to beat Burnley tomorrow!!!

[Messenger]

We've got a terrible record against them, it would be nice to change that.