Crystal Palace F.C.

Crystal Palace Football Club are an English professional football club based in South Norwood, London. They are currently playing in the Barclays Premier League. During the 2012–13 Football League season, Palace finished fifth and gained promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs. Their colours are red and blue, although they had adopted a claret and pale blue strip of Aston Villa in their early years. The club was founded at The Crystal Palace in 1905 to introduce a team to the local population, who regularly supported the FA Cup Final in sizeable numbers, which was played at the sports stadium, in Crystal Palace Park. Failing to gain election to The Football League, Palace instead joined the Southern Football League Second Division, playing home games at The Crystal Palace, inspiration for the club's initial nickname, "The Glaziers". Palace won the Division and promotion in their first season, and played in the Southern League First Division for the next fifteen years.

In 1920 the Southern League Division One formed the Football League Third Division. Palace won the division and gained promotion to the Second Division, where they spent four seasons before suffering relegation to the Third Division South. In 1958 a league re-organisation saw Palace become founder members of Division Four. Over the next eleven years the club moved from the lowest rung of English Football to the highest, reaching the First Division in 1969. In 1973 the club modernised its image, changing the nickname from The Glaziers to "The Eagles" and ending the 68-year association with claret and blue by introducing the red-and-blue vertical stripes now associated with the club. The club stabilised itself in the top two divisions with successive promotions in 1977 and 1979. The period from 1989–91 saw Steve Coppell guide the team to an FA Cup Final and third place in the First Division. Palace became founder members of the Premier League in 1992, but were relegated the same season. Palace entered administration in both 2000 and 2010, and are now owned by a consortium of four. The club achieved promotion back to the Premier League under manager Ian Holloway with a 1–0 win over Watford in the Football League play-offs in May 2013.

Crystal Palace initially played their games in the grounds of The Crystal Palace, but the First World War saw them forced to move out, and they enjoyed a number of seasons at both the Herne Hill Velodrome and The Nest. Since 1925, Palace have played their home games at Selhurst Park. They have a fierce rivalry with M23 neighbours Brighton & Hove Albion, with whom they have contested the M23 derby 98 times. They also enjoy rivalries with fellow South London teams Millwall and Charlton Athletic. The club's kit is currently made by Avec, a subsidiary of Nike, and the shirt sponsor is GAC Logistics. The club captain is Paddy McCarthy and the current player of the year is Mile Jedinak. Edmund Goodman is the club's longest serving manager, and Jim Cannon has made the most appearances for the club. Peter Simpson is the club's top scorer for both one season and overall, netting 54 and 165 respectively. The highest transfer fee received has been for Wilfried Zaha from Manchester United in January 2013 and the highest paid has been to Peterborough United for Dwight Gayle in July 2013.