That was the power of Eagle Eye fanzine back then. They nailed that campaign. :p

I don't think they were expecting us to actually go and win!

From my vague recollection, Andy had an absolute nightmare in the England shirt Vs Poland.

Had a great chance to score early on, that he missed and was dragged off at HT, never to be seen in a full England squad, again.

On the plus side, I'm sure there were 5 Palace players, in that squad - Gray, Thomas, Salako, Wright and Martyn ?

Surely Salad wouldn't have been in that squad - he was still out injured.

Correct Wright was Arsenal by then......and Martyn was not in the squad for Poland with Chris Wood starting and David Seaman being the reserve sub keeper.

I have fallen way behind the curve on this thread but I will jump back in at this point in an attempt to respond to the hat debate. My recollection is that it wasn't specifically sombrero themed, Eagle Eye billed it as a more generic hats day, if I recall correctly the intention was to create a football equivalent of Royal Ascot with those of us who were attending encouraged to wear whatever outlandish and fancy hats we could lay our hands on. I rocked up in a Sherlock Holmes deerstalker - my dad's walking hat - whereas another of our party had borrowed his mate's top hat from his recent wedding. There were all manner of random items perched on people's bonces in the away end that day, including sombreros but that wasn't the theme. I remember one guy had turned up with about a dozen different Palace hats - beanie, ski, etc - all balanced on top of one another.

What a joyous period that early 90's was, especially coming after those miserable early/mid Eighties period. That never to be forgotten time when finishing an incredible 3rd in the league, which was then followed by that memorable FA cup semi final at Villa Park, but then have to experience the heartbreak in seeing the "Ian Wright" Wembley final slip through our fingers. Oh for those days to return.

As for the Liverpool game itself...we decided to make a weekend of it, combining the game with a visit to a mate who'd gone to Uni up in Liverpool.

Liverpool were struggling a bit under new manager Graeme Souness so there was a feeling that there could be something in it for us. The hats thing generated something of a party atmosphere in the away end, even before kick off with people comparing headgear. My recollection of the match is that it was fairly even in the most part, a somewhat scrappy affair with few clear cut chances. It will probably go down as Gabbiadini's finest hour in a Palace shirt, I still have a vivid memory of watching him sweep home his goal in front of the Kop.

We survived late pressure to seal the three points after which it was straight onto it in the city centre where the party continued. The Liverpool fans we bumped into over the course of the evening were good natured about the result, they were more concerned with where the team was heading under Souness. It did seem possible that for the first time in my living memory as a 19 year old that Liverpool's air of dominance and invincibility was starting to permeate away.

All in all a most enjoyable weekend and certainly well worth sacrificing a week of playing football - although I couldn't have timed it worse in hindsight. Our team had brought in a new manager the week before who pulled a few new players along with him. I lost my place in the starting line up due to my absence and never got it back, soon ending up dropped to the reserves. Bastard.

He got slated by the pundits, and it really affected him - he was never the same player for us.

We really lost three key players in different ways in the early part of that season - Wright to Arsenal; Salako to injury; and Gray's head seemed to go.

Taylor played Andy Gray up front with Gary Lineker. I believe that AG had been a striker earlier in his career, but had played in midfield for at least the last 6-7 years, so was probably not used to the position. Wasn't there a story that soon after the Poland game a load of England training gear went on sale in AG's sports shop in Tooting?

He & Phil Barber were our lethal strike partnership in 85/86 :p

Absolutely! I wore a ridiculously large Chef's hat courtesy of my friend Jimmy :).

As Elwiss mentioned, I also remember it for being the Rugby WC final.

And finally, I remember it for magnificent Marco. Surely his finest display in a Palace shirt.

30 years on, it's still one of my best memories of watching a Palace away game. Happy days indeed.

For about the first three games it looked like they might be the answer to our striking prayers. They weren't. (But luckily the answer wasn't far round the corner.)

Er.....er....Perhaps it was another squad, a few months earlier !!??:clown:

England debut’s

Wright Feb 91 v Cameroon
Thomas May 91 v Turkey
Salako June 91 v Australia
Gray Nov 91 v Poland
Martyn Apr 92 v CIS

A story I did hear about Gray’s debut was that he was given the instruction by Graham Taylor at kick off, of playing the ball out of touch deep into the opponents half. Now I believe there wasn’t any love lost between the pair as they’d fallen out during their time at Villa together. Apparently Taylor smugly remarked on the bench as the ball sailed out of touch, ‘Now he’ll always know that his first touch for England was whacking the ball into the stand!’

Thanks, I don't know where I thought I got that stat from ? Must be getting old lol !

Tbf, it's pretty good that 5 players, while at Palace, made their England debuts over a 14 month period.

It wasn’t until I checked it that I realised Martyn got his first cap so late. In my head it was just after Wrighty’s.

It was around this time that we brought in a new coaching staff member whose talents lay in aiming for the cups. :p

https://s8.gifyu.com/images/A76DBED1...4A350D7.md.jpg

https://s8.gifyu.com/images/DAF47672...38FF123.md.jpg

Used to love the old joke "Harrison's great in the League but shit in the cup!"