Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #598: Crystal Palace podcaster Jack Pierce on Chris Richards & FA Cup glory

Episode Date: June 1, 2025

Jack, one of the hosts of the Five Year Plan, a Crystal Palace podcast, joins Belz and Vince for to talk about Crystal Palace winning its first-ever major trophy, with Chris Richards as one of its best players on the day. It's a celebration pod!FYP podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fyp-podcast/id373306875On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QGuFDpOw2fUBrnAhcTZKt Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Scuff Podcast, where we talk about U.S. soccer. Our guest today is based in London and one of the hosts of the five-year plan, a Crystal Palace podcast. He's blessed us with his presence on the Scuffed podcast twice before. Now he'll have a hat trick, and he has a lot to celebrate this month with Crystal Palace' historic win over Manchester City two weekends ago in the FAA Cup final. Jack Pierce, welcome back to Scuffed. How are you?

I'm well, guys. And I must say, it was me knocking at your door this time. I just need a reason to talk about Crystal Palace and Chris Richards in particular. So it's a hat trick in that sense, but I've teed myself up to nod it in in that sense. I'm grateful to share the ways with you again. You've got to work to create those scoring chances, you know? I mean, if you don't, any good striker does. And you can knock at our door any time.

Our door is always open. Appreciate it. So this was the 144th FAA Cup final. Final, Crystal Palace's first victory. We'll get into what that means for Palace fans, but maybe just, you know, we're talking about this very briefly before we started recording,

maybe just give us a sense of what the FAA Cup means in general in England. We don't, I mean, we have the U.S. Open Cup, but it's obviously miles different. Tell us what it means, exactly. So the FAA Cup, I guess, is one of the things that you learn about first

when you start becoming a football fan in England. So for me, it was a big, my childhood. My father gave me no choice but to love football. It was one of those things that was left to me very early. And the FA Cup is a showpiece. And it's a big day in the calendar. I think it's fair to say that in recent years, that has somewhat reduced with TV issues, scheduling of European competition, that type of thing. This year was the first year where replays were completely scrapped. So that's been a topic of discussion, particularly for lower league clubs. But the FA Cup

has a magnificent history and is a magnificent honour to win. And I think I respect that now even more, having watched the club that I love, win it. The weight of it is not lost on Palace fans. To see your Captain Joel Ward lift the FA Cup, that is quite something. We have the other cup competition in the UK,

which is the League Cup. This is currently sponsored by Carabour and energy drink, I think, based in Southeast Asia. That's a massive achievement for Newcastle to win their first honour for 75 years, doesn't necessarily come with the same pastiche as it were as the FA Cup. So the FA Cup is a major honour. I think it's often referred to as the greatest cup competition in the world. I know you guys just visited Italy until the Coppa Italia final.

Every country takes pride in the Copper Del Rey in Spain. The Scottish FA Cup was a magnificent final just a week ago nearby. So domestic cup competitions mean a lot in every country, but the FA Cup seems to carry this weight, this kind of, this glamour and glory. And I've always respected it. I've always been excited. Palace were in the final nine years ago.

They reached famously the final in 1990 as well with Ian Wright, scoring two goals in the final. But to win it now, I think I respect the gravitas of this competition better than I did before winning it. Had we lost that final, I probably would have chucked it in the bin again and said, what a gnaf thing this is. Who was excited by it? it, but to win it, and it comes with, you know, the additional honours of representing English football in Europe next year. It's the first time Palace will be in Europe.

And then we also have to kind of squeeze in the Community Shield, which is, I guess, the first fixture of the season. Right. When your team's not in it, it doesn't really matter. Nobody really watches it. But when your team's in it, all of a sudden, it becomes a massive day. And every family then has to squeeze every summer activity around that date, which is the 9th of August, I believe. So, yeah, it's a fantastic competition. As I said, it's probably been diluted in time.

I mean, if you go back to the 60s and 70s and 80s for a period, it was the only live game shown on British television. So the whole country would kind of focus on that game. Television coverage would start at 9 a.m. and run until 6, 7 o'clock after the game. It was a day in the calendar, whereas now it's an occasion, but it's still treated with the same traditions, abide with me, some before the game,

a royal band coming on the pitch pre-game. There's who the patron of the FA is currently Prince William. So he's there to meet the player. So it does come with this air of grace. And it's certainly an occasion. But it certainly helps when your team lift the cup for sure. Does it still have all that same TV coverage? Not so much anymore.

No, the coverage now starts maybe 90 minutes before kickoff, which is longer than your typical live coverage in the UK. but I mean if you go back 30, 40 years, you would have reporters outside hotels commenting on what the players were having for breakfast, that type of thing. So those days have now gone. And now we live in an era where a lot of that coverage is picked up during the week. You know, social media is obviously picked up a lot of it.

Podcasts like our own talking about the club in the buildup of it. You don't necessarily need to wait until the Saturday in the day of the game to kind of capture all that excitement. So the approach has changed over here. but yeah, there's still the moment. And this one in particular, maybe we'll come on to it. This one did seem to catch the imagination. Not to sit here as a palace fan,

but I think there were a lot of people hoping Palace would get this one over the line, not necessarily just because it was Manchester City, but because we're a new name on the Cup as well. And I think that does excite people of it. So did you see the BBC's like trailer video or the closing credits video? I saw Chris Richards retweeted it. And what did you make of that? Did it bring a tear to your eye?

So I can tell you, but it's got, well, just for the listener, it interspices clips from like the 1990 final and the one in 2016. And, you know, it's like a sort of historical. But then they're singing the Elvis song. What is it? Can't fall in love. Falling in love with you. Yeah.

Yeah. Can't help falling in love with you. Yeah. What did you think? What did you make of that? I have a couple questions. about it. So if I just take you back to my day, I watched that as soon as I got home from the game.

So after the game, didn't really know how to celebrate a victory of that magnitude. Palace of gracious losers, and we go off into the night having been seen off by the better team. So to actually have the honour of winning that competition, our first major honour in over a century of the club's history, nobody really knew what to do. So everybody kind of meanded around. anyone that's been to Wembley will tell you getting back to the tube is a bit of a nightmare.

And then we just found ourselves in central London just having a couple of beers, just looking at each other in bewilderment, really, not really knowing what to do. We went for some dinner and then found myself getting home at about 1am. The game finished, I would say, probably half six. So, you know, you're just talking about it. But then the first moment of reflection I really had by myself was getting home.

And as soon as I got through the door, I put the coverage on that I'd recorded. If we'd lost, it would have been deleted. immediately, but the first thing I did when I got home was put it straight on. And somebody had told me, start at the end and watch the montage. And I did. And I'll be open with you. I burst into tears again for the 15th time that day.

It was really quite something that the way it kind of painted the story of Palace's journey of the last 35 years since that first cup defeat. There's elements of our history it didn't touch on. We've been in administration twice. We've nearly lost our club twice. but just the FA Cup journey on its own kind of painted this journey of the club kind of nearly moments. So to actually have the day where we completed what we wanted,

that video was perfect. And, you know, Chris was one of a number of players that retweet. And I hope they all took a moment to enjoy it and kind of savor what it represented. There's been a lot of love from this current squad about the previous teams, particularly the 1990 team. There's a lovely story at the moment about Eberich Euse, who scored the winner, one of our talisman. He asked to wear a shirt from that 1989-90 season,

and a fan was got in contact with, and he said, I've got one. And actually on the day of the final, they had the shirt framed, and they had it at their grandfather's grave because he's since passed and wasn't able to be at the game. But they wanted him to kind of be part of it as well.

So they took the shirt up to the graveyard, and it was there. And then they met Ebs the week after the final, before the parade which we had last week and Ebb's wore that family's shirt from that era. So the players realized what the journey has been for the club that was articulated so beautifully in that montage as well. And then I rewound to the start of the coverage

and savored every minute of the rest of the coverage eventually turned in about half three, four o'clock. Yeah. I know that feeling. I mean, not on the same level, but like after a nice victory, I mean, you could basically stay up all night, just watching it over and over again.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I do that with a dogged 1-0 win on a Tuesday night. It doesn't need, you know, I will watch games. My partner will query why I'm watching a game that I've just got home from. But of all the games that I've ever done that with, this one was the one to do that with. And I wasn't alone. I can imagine many palace fans saw daylight the next morning because they wanted just to watch everything. And the added beauty over here is actually shown on the two main broadcasters, BBC and ITV. So a lot of people went from one broadcaster straight to the other one, having been at the game.

So I would hazard a guess that there's a decent proportion of palace fans who watched the live game and then two whole reruns within about 12 hours of the match finishing. Okay. Because we're mad, because we're obsessed with it. So, yeah. Understood. We're going to get into Chris Richards. We're going to get into Richards in detail, but is can't help falling in love going to replace Glad All Over as the club song? You touch on a contentious issue there, I think.

I think we'll probably know more when the start of next season comes around. I'm probably halfway with it. I love Glad All Over. It's the last song that's played at Family Functions. It's a big one for us. So my particular family love Glad All Over. It's a great hit from the 60s, Dave Clark Five. And this kind of Elvis song has come about over the last six weeks or so.

But because it's been associated with two magnificent visits to Wembley, so the Villa semi-final was spectacular in itself. to then have the final, a lot of people are now very happy to associate those lyrics with this magnificent achievement of the club. So I think we'll see, I think they can probably live in tandem. I think one doesn't have to replace the other necessarily.

And particularly when the cup comes back around again next January, I think we'll start to see it kind of bubble up again. But yeah, it has split the fan base a little bit, but I don't think anybody really cares too much now that we won the FA Cup. Oh, okay. Jack, so you were at the first. match, right? Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. So one thing that me and Bells, a conclusion that me and Bells came to from

being in Italy and watching these matches, right, is just the duel between fan sections, right, in a stadium. And I guess I came up with this hypothesis, basically, that, like, both fan sections are basically petitioning, like, their own, like, patron saint to come down and bless them on the field. And so I'm thinking about Crystal Palis. versus Man City in an FAA Cup final. A lot of people say that, you know, Man City, kind of a plastic club, it may be so in reality.

I'm not sure I wasn't there. But I imagine that with Crystal Palace being in London, Wembley being in London, and the fact that Man City may or may not have like a dearth of like organic fan support. So I imagine that Wembley was, was fully red and blue and your supporter group was able to dwarf. for Manchester City and maybe get your patron state on

on y'all's side to bless the match. Is that the case or no? Funny enough, we'll come on to the impact of religion a bit later actually because it's an element of the palace story that I kind of want to talk a bit later that Chris is maybe part of. But the allocation is split relatively evenly

and then you have a proportion of corporate tickets. So each club gets around 35,000 tickets for an 85,000 capacity stadium basically. They might have had half the stadium, but I genuinely don't think you could have told there were city fans in there if you just listen to the noise of it. The noise that we were making was incredible and the color. I think it helps that we wear red and blue. I think it's a fantastic color combination. I might have said to

join you guys last year. I think we are very fortunate to have that combination of colors. It just looks great. And the fact we were able to get flares in the grounds and we had an incredible effort made by the Homsdale fanatics who are our kind of lead ultra group. You know, they raised 45,000 pounds between the semi-final and the final to arrange that display. And it's in the ground at least, I could only see red and blue because that's where I was. Friends of mine, neutrals who watched on television, I think that was the start of their journey that afternoon in terms of saying, yeah, Palace need to win this. This is Palace's time because not that it meant more to Palace fans, but it kind of did.

It kind of, you know, when City won the semi-final, the only thing I heard from City fans was then saying, many times it meant they'd had to be to Wembley and what an inconvenience of continuing to win games and getting to Wembley is. So there is a true hardcore of Man City fans. That can't be denied and one of my biggest bug bears is saying that City are entirely plastic. If you go back

to the 90s, City will perhaps one of the most authentic clubs in the country. But your point is right, Vince, in terms of given their global success or continental success over the last 10, 15 years, they naturally have gathered a broader fan based than just maybe that organic fan group that maybe Palace currently have.

And that's not to say that we don't have international fans. Some people listen to this, no doubt, are Palace fans. And that number of overseas fans has increased massively since promotion in 2013 and has just built year on year and we'll see a massive impact because of this cup win. And I guess the kind of glamour and the excitement. And just final point on that one, Vince, is just the kind of global interpretation of Palace is somewhat informed by the continental style of the support, I think. So you went to watch games in Italy recently.

I think Palace can be considered fairly continental in terms of the atmosphere, the constant banging of the drum, the flags, the flares, the constant noise, which you just don't really see with many other English clubs. And I think to have the profile in the stage of the FA Cup semi-final then final, both broadcasts on national television, on an international stage as well, has probably done wonders for the club's image, because I think we're just a little bit different to a lot of other clubs at the moment. And purer at heart than the average man city fan.

Maybe. Maybe. Cleaner in the eyes of God. Yeah, I mean, we've got some people in our boardroom who, you know, have got relatively interesting political viewpoints. But we best not get into the state of U.S. politics before we say much more. Yeah, we studiously avoid it, basically. Let's stay away from that one. But, yeah, we got, I mean, we got three Americans in the border room,

which, again, I think that has helped the club focus its attention on, you know, a broader fan base. We got David Blitzer and Josh Harris. They've got a joint share in the club. And then David Texter, sorry, John Texter, who's got shares involved in a lot of clubs, Leon and Botafago amongst them. He's the guy who put a cowboy hat on after the head of PSG calling him a cowboy. Yeah, on the cowboys. Yeah, he's quite the character, and I think he's a rather unnerving figure for some palace fans.

And I think there's not to get too earnest about it. There's discussions and conversations to be had at a board level. But all members of the board were at the FA Cut Fun, and they all look very happy with each other, because whatever the issues are between them, they've all contributed to where we got to on that day. So that's been a positive. But I will veer away from US politic commentary here as well. I mean, I don't want to silence you. No, no, not at all. I mean, you know, Josh Harris was recently in the U.S., in the Oval Office with Trump.

I think the Super Bowl is returning to Washington in a few years' time. So it's a rather surreal moment to see a guy who, you know, regularly sits in the boardroom and the chairman's or director's box at Palace standing next to Trump, whatever you think of Trump. It's fairly surreal to think that, you know, Donald Trump might have an idea who Crystal Palace are because he met somebody. But I suspect not. I suspect that isn't the case. It's probably not his wheelhouse to know about. But, look, you can say whatever you want about the man's. But he's open for deals. You know what I'm saying?

Look, hey. And I think that's what Harris was in. I think it was all quite backpatching, you know, all very positive between a lot of them. If you start because he's going a little bit, maybe, you know, throw a little something in his pocket. Ain't no telling what you can get. That's right. I'll leave my comment there, Vince. I'll say nothing else.

Are your parents, Crystal Palace fans? No, funny enough, my dad is actually a diehard Evertonian. So his dad's born on Merseyside, kind of first went to Gooderson in, obviously they've had an incredible season in terms of the last year at Goodison Park. So my grandfather, born in the early 20s, went to Gooderson, saw Dixie Dean play,

who's an icon amongst Everton fans in kind of the early 30s. And then he moved to London after the war. He returned to Liverpool after the war. Liverpool had been destroyed by the conflict of World War II. And he began his teaching career in Liverpool, but quickly finished his training further south in a city called Norwich, and then found his way down to Croydon,

where he would then meet my grandmother and start their family. So my dad, born in the early 50s, followed his father. And then when I was born in the late 80s, and starting to find my football feet in the early 90s, living in Croydon as we were then, Palace were right in front of me, and I couldn't ignore them, and he was cool with that.

He was fine, so, yeah, no issue with that at all. But Everton are very close to me and my brother, you know, I mean a lot to us, and my dad still is a huge Emitonian, but, yeah, Palace, Palace all the way, really. Helps if the league fixtures between us are draws for family diplomacy,

but other than that, It's palace all the way, to be honest. I saw, you know, some videos of, like, older palace fans, you know, a 90-year-old woman, for instance, like singing, abide with me and then, you know, celebrating the victory, I think, with her granddaughter or something. I imagine there was a lot of that kind of thing. Yeah, huge. I mean, my uncle, who's a season ticket hold, had been going for nearly 60 years. my Uncle Ray

he, you know, upon the full-time whistle he was ecstatic and then very quickly dawned on him what it was and there were tears and you know, you could see just in him what it represented for people that have waited such a long time. When I say waited, we haven't been waiting for this to happen. A palace have not been close to this level of achievement for such a long

part of the history that you can't be waiting for something that you never thought was going to happen. Right. But for such a, you know, fandom to last such a long time for so many people did mean that when the full-time whistle went, it was like there was, instead of that typical cheer that you might hear, and we're recording on the night

at the Champions League final, if PSG win, they're so used to winning, their fans will know what to do. Into Milan are so used to winning, their fans will know what to do. If you listen to the audio of the final, and as I said,

I didn't listen back to it very quickly, it's like a whelp rather than a huge cheer, because people were just falling into each other. Sons were hugging their dads, daughters were hugging their dads, their moms, grandparents were there embraced. It was such a peculiar but such a special occasion that the footage that was recorded, and I think has gone viral in terms of people just looking out on the pitch stunned, not really taking in what had happened or trying to take in what had happened.

But, you know, this is a huge win. And even though there was confidence going into it, we were still playing Man City. It was still an underdog. It wasn't quite David versus Goliath of previous seasons when, city have been probably better than they currently are, but it's still Manchester City. So just the reality of winning that game on its own was a sense of surprise. But winning it and it, you know, bringing the emotions that it bought, it was very, very special. As I said to you earlier, like we knew what we would do if we lost, but nobody really

knew how we react if we won. So whatever your age, and I've got to be honest, I've been so touched by the images of people in their 70s, 80s and 90s who, you know, just delighted they've said. theme palace win in honor of this significance. It's very special. Right. So one thing you told us, Jack, that's always stuck with me, is that basically every year that y'all remain in the Premier League, you're making history as this is the longest consecutive streak for Crystal Palace within the top flight.

And so just seeing this slow build all the time through this time that's culminated with this FAA Cup win, what's that? that like? Is this something that you could have imagined 20 years ago or just like I imagine this has to be surreal and just to have players like as a half players like

Alise have players like Matetta come through your club and yeah and play well in the Premier League and for your club to have the expectation because because you know anytime it's happened most

I don't want to say most seasons but you know there's a there's a place in time in like every season where Crystal Palace is kind of flirting with the relegation zone a little bit. And it seems like Crystal Palace is now accepting that we are Premier League of like

you know, it seemed like Glassner was under a little bit of a little bit of pressure earlier in this season. And of course us as this cuff podcast did not want Glasner leave, you know. No. Anything that could keep that three back, that three center back system

please so we can keep Chris Richardson. But like, yeah, what's all this been like over the past? Yeah, I mean, it's crazy to think this season that's ended in such a magnificent glory started with such a turgid start. We didn't win a league game until the end of October.

And given the caliber of this manager, there was no real concern the manager would be sacked, but you get to a point where you think if we begin to dice with relegation maybe going in towards Christmas time, the club will have a decision to make, however highly rated this manager is just because sometimes you need a change. And I think you can't really overlook the impact of this manager.

He's top class. And to have him at Palace is a gift in the same way that you talked about those players. To have Oliver Glasner kind of steering the ship is incredible. But this season has, I think probably influenced by the quality of the bottom three. So in terms of Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester, their relegation effectively being assured by early March, middle March. There was no real risk of you going down. Palace had played so well between November and March

that that prospect had kind of reduced anyway. But for it to culminate in the FA Cup, it basically afforded the manager, the licence, to free up a little bit in the cup competition, I think. It allowed him to give as much focus on the cup competition as he wanted to. And what we knew about Glasner when he came in is that he is a bit of a cup specialist.

He won the Europa League with on track Frankfurt, couple of years ago. Very difficult run they had to the competition when they beat Rangers in the final. I think in 2020. He's got good pedigree and domestic competitions in Austria and Germany. So there was an expectation that if he was afforded the opportunity and maybe the run, the cup run and the draws allowed him to maybe manage the squad, we could go deep into this competition. And I think what the club have done is maximise the peak time of one, having this manager and two having some incredible talents. The goalkeeper,

Richards, Lecoir, Gayi, an outstanding back three. Daniel Munos on the right-hand side, I think is so underrated, and I don't want to say it too loudly, because I don't want people to know about him. Tyreik Mitchell on the left-hand side, unbelievable player.

Adam Wharton, who's actually had a difficult season because he's been injured this season. He's so nice. Dashi Kamal, he's a very special player, and I think he will be at Palace maybe for one more season at best, but we'll get good money for him. Dashi Commada, who there's been a lot of question marks about, played very well towards the end of the season. And then you've got a front three of Eberich Euseppe de Sarr, who's been an incredible signing, and then Jean-Filippe Matetta.

That is a really high quality starting 11. The squad depth isn't fantastic. In terms of a starting 11, that is really good. And actually should be better than 12, but because of the start of the season that we had, we, you know, we weren't able to maybe get above Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth that I think we probably should have done. And what we've done is actually maximize that opportunity. This window, if you want to think of it as a window, we've gone through the window, we've grabbed the cup. And I really think, you know, with the transition that will come in naturally the next few years, Glasna might move on, Ebrecht Ereza might move on.

Mark Gabe is likely to move on this summer. We will replace players of that quality with players, hopefully, of a similar quality, but it will take time for them to bed in. This was the window. The cup run allowed us to go deep into it. And in terms of the quarter final way at Fulham, we were outstanding, the semi-final, against Villa, outstanding, and then the final,

outstanding, flavoured with a bit of luck. And maybe we'll talk about the red card that could have been when we talk a bit later. But yeah, I think you're right to highlight the kind,

not meandering, because it is an achievement in itself for Palace to be in the top flight for such a long time. But for us to be in a top flight for such a long time and now having crowned it with this achievement, I think it kind of warrants the patience

that Palace fans and the owners and the players and the players, and the players have shown to get to this point. So Munoz, I don't want to contribute to his getting signed by a bigger club either, but what an absolute dog he is. I mean, if I were on a, if Apocalypse hit, I would want to travel with Daniel Munoz, you know? Like, the way he, you know, the goal that was called back because Sarr was offside, I think.

The way he hits it, like it wasn't a great hit. I think it gets, maybe it was going in Far Post or whatever, but it gets deflected to the to the side of the goalkeeper the way he just he's like so locked in he immediately tracks down that that loose ball gets there before everybody else he he wove through like seven bodies to get there gets there right before the keeper I'm like man that that guy won a lot of games on the playground you know um he's spectacular you know we signed him for eight million pounds incredible I mean in terms of some of the business that the clubs,

maybe some of your listeners, follow, you know, the likes of United. If you just pinpoint United is an example about the money they've spent over the last 10 years to get a signing like Daniel Munos from Belgium, he was playing for Gank. He was available for

people. And I'm sure the clubs like United and, you know, not Liverpool, because they've got, they've stacked anyway, but Arsenal, you know, clubs are all, clubs hire up the league, Villa, Newcastle. Daniel Munoz was there. And I suspect every club knew about Daniel Munoz. Palace were the ones that went and got him. And he's just one player of the season, voted by the fans and players' player of the season as well.

And I think that kind of highlights to me that he's not only beginning, well, not beginning to be adored, is adored by fans, but his teammates know how good. When you've got others in the dressing room like Jean-Felit Mateta, Ismail Esau, Eberich, Erezé, Mark Gay, Dean Henderson, Henderson, but Daniel Munoz still gets the vote. I think that says that players know their play. playing with an absolute dog to quote your bells. Yeah. Were you at the parade? I couldn't make that, sadly. Too many family commitments.

And I'd used enough family good favour to get around the recent week. So that fell on a bank holiday over here and we already had commitments. But I watched it and I had family that were there. It was just very bizarre to see an open top bus parade in South Norwood. You know, that's not a part of the world that open top buses are used. used to being in. But the towns that were there had a great time. The ultras made it look spectacular.

So everyone that was there that day will have great memories from it. But the images will stand the test of time. The blue, the red and blue flares going up as the bus entered the ground looks spectacular. So a very special day. And the fact the club kind of combined that with the end of season awards was a smart move as well, and a very nice way to end the season. How was Chris Richards in this game, in your opinion? In the final?

Yeah, yeah. Maybe our best player. He was... That's right. He was... Well, no, Dean Henderson. Dean Henderson had the game of his life. And it's kind of jovially being talked about the Dean Henderson final over here,

because not only was he incredible in what he did, you know, preventing city scoring, he also had that rather contentious moment in terms of the VAR check. But I thought Chris Richards had a good game when I was in. in the ground. He won everything. He was dominant. He did a lot of good work with Daniel Munoz, but also with Maxence's Laquire inside of him. When I watched it back, it was twice as good. He was so dominant. He was a leader for us that day. And I've loved Chris Richards since we've signed him. You know, it's at the end of his third season at Palace and you guys have kindly invited me on at the end of each season, kind of like a progress

report. And I've given you my thoughts on Chris. And it's been overtly positive because I've really enjoyed what I've seen from him, but we'll go back in time in terms of how his season's been this season. But in terms of that day, when we talked about it on our podcast, the day after, we do a segment called 3-2-1, where we talk about, everybody obviously could have got a point winning a final, but you highlight three particular players that you want to talk about. And Joe mentioned Chris Richards. And when he did, I was just delighted because I thought of of here, I thought of Chris's journey with us just this season in terms of being squeezed out by Trevor Shalabar at the start of the season.

but then for him to have what I think is probably the game of his life at club level. I know he's played well for you as a national team in games as well. But in terms of club career, for this guy to play at that level on this occasion was incredible. And he was among several very, very good performances, but right up there in terms of Alice's best player that day, I thought. Yeah, I mean, because he was the one that early Holland was choosing, was choosing the playoff of. You know?

Yeah. Yeah. And actually, I thought that was a foolish move by Harlan because Maxence Lequois, who's had a very good season, is actually sometimes struggled against bigger men in terms of bigger target men. And Harlan seemed to want to go against Chris Richards every time. And Chris was up for the fight for a minute one. Like, he was not daunted by the prospect of Erling Harland.

He wanted to go every time and got the better of him. Every time it was those two in a jury. Chris Richards came out on top. And we'll maybe come on to have a bit in terms of individual facets of Chris's play. But his ball distribution has improved massively as well. He's so much better on the ball than he was when he first joined us. And I think that's increased his confidence.

And then you see that confidence when it comes to that physical battle. And yeah, absolutely outstanding that day. And yeah, for a lot of palace fans, one of the standout performers for us. You used the word leader. He was a leader that day. and we badly need him to become a leader for the national team. So maybe give us a progress report on him as a leader. And like what's his sort of, what's his role in the dressing room now?

It's probably different than it was, you know, the beginning of the three seasons ago. Yeah. What's his, in the more intangible aspects of the game, what's he? So I really like to kind of paint the picture of what I see of Chris on the pitch, but also off the pitch. So on the pitch, I think his performances demonstrate the level he's playing at, and I think therefore he kind of leads by example. And I guess maybe that's what I mean in terms of leadership. But he's grown off the pitch.

Like he's regularly provided as kind of the media's contact for things. He's very regularly in front of Premier League world, for example, does a lot of social media stuff with the club. He's very involved with the foundation, which I think I talked to you guys about previously. So off the field, as that said, he's also become a fun. father in the last six months. He has developed on and off the pitch in South London to a point where he probably associates a lot of love with playing for Crystal Palace and playing in South London. His family are very present. He's got incredibly close relationship with his parents. That's very evident.

He's got this shared kind of Christian faith that he has with seven of our players and there's this kind of brotherhood within the team. I haven't got strong faith myself, but it almost watching it, I'm like assured that there's an incredible bond. between these guys. It's not just about wanting to win. They actually love each other and, you know, celebrate off the pitch as well as they, they celebrate on it. Who all is in that group? So Richards. So Richard. Maxence La Cua. Mark Gaeta. Basically, the back three are, you know, very god-fearing young men. And they defend as a unit. And I think their shared faith is perhaps a contributing factor to how well they've formed as a unit. Eberich Eze is involved in that. Daniel Munos celebrates.

to indicate that he's got strong faith. Joel Ward, who's just left the club, club captain. He was kind of on his own for a period in terms of the team's kind of Christian representative. And now, if you watch before kickoff, half the team are in prayer before kickoff. And that is, I think, a shared bond. I think the other players just kind of accept it in terms of that's part of our identity at the moment. And, you know, I don't know Chris's particular faith. I don't know whether it's something he's found recently or whether he's always had a strong faith.

since birth, it's been part of his upbringing, but that's been a big part of what palace fans have seen this season. But I think that role that he's now got in terms of being part of the rearguard, as it could be described as, just means that the rest of the team have this trust in him, Maxence Lecoir and Mark Gaye, and as I mentioned a moment ago, there's anticipation that Mark Gay will leave the club this summer,

but, you know, if Lequire and Richard stay, and there's no reason why either of those would go this summer. The person that would come in to replace them would join with Dean Henderson behind them and Tyreek Mitchell and Daniel Munoz on the flanks. That's a very good unit for somebody to bed into. And Chris is a massive part of that now. And if you want my thoughts on Chris Richards, maybe not as many minutes before Christmas,

then I'm happy to give you them as well because I felt he was harshly done by. Well, yeah, let's talk about that. With Chalaba. I mean, he got hurt for a little while, didn't he? And then couldn't get his spot back. Yeah. So Chalabar came in on deadline day last August and was quite a surprise. He's one of these kind of victims at Chelsea of this ever-changing approach.

And I understand training with the under-18s for most of the summer. Didn't have a pre-season. They'd taken his squad number away. And Pallas, you know, do have a fairly positive relationship with Chelsea in terms of loan signings. We've had Ruben Loftus Cheek. We've had Conner Gallagher before. You know, it's a relationship that works for both clubs. So Trevor Shalabar was offered to us.

I did not expect him to maybe start as many games as he did so quickly. And he did look a bit rusty. When I last spoke to you guys this time last year, Chris had ended the season magnificently. Playing on the left-hand side in Mark Gay's absence. But I thought all that would happen would Chris would just play right-hand side. He didn't. I think there were some injury matters. at points, but even when Chris came back, Chalabar kept his spot.

And I like Chalabar. He had some positive moments, was a goal threat. But while I didn't bemoan Trevor Shalabar playing, I did feel it was a shame that Chris Richards was maybe not getting the minutes that he deserved. And actually, it's a twist of fate that Chris Richards has had the second half of the season he's had. In the Enzo Moreska at Chelsea just had a complete change of heart and said, no, I need Chalabar back. They'd inserted this clause.

we didn't think it would be activated. It was. Chris Richards, I think, first start for at least a number of weeks, was the third round FAA Cup game against Stockport. And Chris Richards ends the season as the only player to play every minute of Palace's cup run, from third round through to the final. So he'll have that badge of honour as well as the medal around his neck too.

Beautiful. So I know he had, he did have some up and downs. when he did get his spot started playing. I know he had that great performance against Manchester United where he locked down Granancho on Crystal Palace's right-hand side. I remember what he had the red card. Who was the red card against?

The kind of cheap on the double-y-ed-old. That was a ridiculous second Jellar card against Bournemouth. Yeah. Which again, I guess fate was on his side that time because they'd rearrange the Arsenal game for the midweek. so he missed the Arsenal game. If that game hadn't be a rearranged for that, he would have missed the semi-final against Villa,

which would have been a massive shame for him and us as well because he's become such a vital part. But yeah, he hasn't let us down. And even that red card was such a joke of a decision. He kind of added to the love of Chris Richards and the protection that Palace fans want to offer, Chris, because he's so highly thought of. He's had a very steady progression this season

since he's come back in and then ended it playing an incredibly high level. As I said about the final. But even on the last day of the season against Liverpool, still very, very good, providing, you know, incredible blocks. His last it's defending, albeit you don't want your defender's last, it's defending all the time, but he's so good at it.

Because he's so athletic and his timing's great. His reading of the game is improving all the time. And I think next season, unless an incredible deal becomes available to the club, Chris Richards is a starting centreback next season for Oliver Glasner. I think Glasden really likes him. He had no issue with putting him straight back in. So in that sense,

in the anticipation of Oglowler of Glasner still being our manager next season, I expect Chris Richards just to continue the start of next season as he's finished this season. It's kind of gay he's. Go ahead, Vince. Well, I was wondering, Jack, do you see a potential club captain brewing?

With Chris Richard? Yes. Yeah, my question was going to be on that front, too. Yeah, I, I could see it in the longer term. I think if Mark Gaylee does go and Joel Ward's obviously left the club, as well, kind of the longest servant at the club, I think the three main candidates would probably be Dean Henderson, the goalkeeper.

I have a personal preference of not having a captain or goalkeeper as a captain for some weird reason. Something sewed in me in my early years and thought, no, don't like captains as goalkeepers. So that's a personal preference. Max Sets de Koir is a very kind of strong figure. I can imagine him wearing the armband. I think he was the captain at Wolfsburg before he joined Palace. And then Will Hughes is probably now the most experienced player at Palace in terms of his career. But Chris Richards, I could certainly see him wearing the armbands.

And interestingly with Chris, he's at the end of his third year out of a five-year contract that he signed when he joined the club from Bayern Munich. The club are, I understand, already in negotiations with him. So they want to secure him. They want to tie him down. He's 25. If he gets an extension of three, four years, he's going to be playing some of his best years, hopefully, in a palace shirt.

And there's no reason why over that time you wouldn't see him with the armband. Whether or not he's club captain, I don't know. But I'd have no issue with him leading the team out. I think he provides such a great example. It would be a logical choice. Would he become the first US Premier League captain since Tim Riem, I'm guessing, if he ever did wear the armband?

Yeah, Timmy. Sorry. I was about to say. Whenever I come on this podcast, I just forget Anthony Robinson exists because I just want to talk about Chris Richards. But Robinson has worn the armbandist. And I guess Tom Kenney's leaving Fulham this year. So actually, Anthony Robinson may well become club captain at Fullham over the next couple of months. But Richard's great, great influence on the team, I think.

I think that's quite evident. And he's so liked by players and really shows by example. Because he does the nice bits off the pitch, but on the pitch, he's a tough bastard. I like it. You want to see your players being happy to dish it out. When someone early Harland in the final actually gives up the ghost, but he didn't fancy it against Chris for parts of that game. I think he knew that he wasn't onto a winner that day.

That says a lot about Chris. Why do you think Holland gave up the penalty to Marmush? No idea. Absolutely bonkers decision. To the point that when the goalkeeper actually was asked about it after the game, game. He said if Harland had come on because Harlan, you know, rarely or fairly, sorry, fairly evenly distributes his side of goal, whereas Marmuch just hits the ball with the same technique to his left and to a goalkeeper's right. So Dean Henderson fancied his chances. Obviously, it's a

great save in terms of the dexterity to beat it away. But I think the goalkeeper, I think the palace team naturally were happier when the ball was handed over. A very odd decision by Harland. I think Guardioli came out afterwards and said that it was a decision between the players. He didn't really own that decision himself. So, yeah, I'd imagine if that happened another hundred times, you probably wouldn't see Marmouche take the penalty again. Who cares, Bels? No, I don't.

I'm delighted he didn't let it. Because Harlan's record from the penalty spot isn't amazing. I think it's about 75% I read after the game. He does miss some, but Marmush has got a good record. But what the goalkeeper knew is that he goes to his, he shoots to his left. he was right. So the goalkeeper just had to get. Yeah, did his research and, and probably would have seen the ball be handed over and thank his lucky stars. He wouldn't have thanked the Lord because

he's not one of our further Christians in the team. Right. But, but, but that, that new centerback, if gay he leaves, is going to have to be, I think, you know, there's going to be like a theological questionnaire. There'll certainly be an invite to him for church for Sunday morning. Let's just put it that way. But yeah, it's, who knows? I mean, with, with that gap, it's going to have to be a player of a certain quality as well because Laquois and Richards are playing at a level this season that, again, you'd expect them to emerge next season playing the same level.

So whoever does come in for him, we'll need to be at the races pretty quickly. Yeah. That Welp you talked about at the end of the game, how much of that was just a recognition that, You know, you guys, you score an early goal like that against Manchester City. You have, were you thinking a lot of the game, this is going to go bad. They're going to, they're going to score. Yeah. Yeah, the adage of scoring too early, again, is one of those that gets talked about a lot.

But in that game, I just wanted us to score at some point and give us a chance. But there were certain minutes of that game that just felt like they lasted a lot longer than the 60 seconds that they did. And there have been a lot of kind of break up in play. There have been a few injuries and a prolonged VAR check for the Daniel Munoz disallowed goal. So when you see 10 minutes put up at 90 minutes for added on time, you do think one, we're only 10 minutes away from securing the greatest honour in the club's history.

But how long is that 10 minutes going to last? And I actually felt looking back at it, we dealt with it very, very well. I thought we defended like we did. We didn't panic. We didn't change our shape. We still had an outlet, Eddie and Ketty had come on for the teta and was still kind of the option.

Shemayla Saars a threat because of just how pacey he is. But defensively, the back three, by that point, Jefferson Lermer had come on for Mark Gaye, were brilliant. With the keeper behind them, they're outstanding. And then, you know, the only moment I had where I actually kind of gave myself a chance to breathe, I think about 30 seconds have added on time, 9930 on the clock, and Jeremy Docku comes inside and just lets off this very, very limp effort, which just drifted wide. And that's when I thought we've won the FA Cup.

And that's when I started to prepare myself for how I was going to feel. And I just started jumping on the spot. And the noise was building. And as you watch the camera pan around the crowd, every fan kind of had that glisten in their eye in terms of we're literally one whistle away here from the cup being lifted. So I will always thank Jeremy Docku for a terrible effort in the 19th minute of the fake up final. If I was a Man City fan, I'd be furious, but as a palace fan, cheers to you, Jeremy. That was Jeremy, Jeffrey, Jeremy Docko, isn't it, I think?

Anyway, Docu. Jeremy Docko, yeah. He got pocketed by Munoz. That was a battle all day. Because, you know, Docu had his moments and cut inside and Dean Henderson made one particularly excellent, save from him high to his left. But other than that, that was a running battle. And the threat of Munoz is that the last.

left winger for whoever you're playing has to go the other way as well. You can't just isolate them. They've got to do their bit as well. So, you know, Jeremy Docky would have had a busy afternoon tracking back as well. But yeah, that was the moment I kind of realized. And then, yeah, the full-time whistle blows and that whelp, as I felt in, as I described it, came out. And yeah, it just kind of led to that dawning on people of relief of the full-time whistle going,

but then acknowledging the moment in the club's history that it was. very, very special. Whatever comes for Palace moving forward, we will now always have that day and this honour. So very, very special. 164 years, right? I mean... Yeah, if you go by the clubs,

they revised the launch date of the club. It previously been 1905. And then during lockdown, the club did some work with local historians and discovered there's a very valid claim to say the club started in 1861. So, therefore the song goes 1861 and the 17th of May ended 164 years of hurt so yeah what can you say

congratulations to you and to everybody all off of Chris Richards past man I mean you got about you got to talk about the past and then and then also my metata my my second favorite player on Crystal Palace it's so just so nice with his feet man Vince I actually think I referenced you a couple of months ago on the podcast because you were an early believer in John Philippe Matetta. I think it was the first time I came on you, so like May 2023, and you said,

what about Jean-Filippe Matetta? And I was like, Vince, are you sure, man? I don't know what the TV coverage in the States is like, but, you know, we see it in fits and bursts, but since the new manager's coming, he's been incredible. But that passage of play,

starting with Richard's playing that lofted, nicely weighted pass into Matetta, if Oliver Glasna had one dream the night before, it would have been that goal. It would have been get the ball, in the middle of the pitch, the Teta provides the platform, Daishi Commander plays it in,

and then just let Daniel Munos go. And then you've got somebody as technically gifted as Eberich Erezay to do with the ball in the box, however the ball in the box comes in. And, you know, I don't think enough has really been said about that finish. Like a volleyed finish like that is not easy

when you've got a monster like a kanji next to you as well. Ebs's timing of the run was fantastic, but the technique on that finish is glorious. And there's been... It does. I just feel like on the, I think it was the ITV broadcast that I saw the clips from it. They're, they're just like, yeah, of course he's going to score there. I'm like, no, no, no, no.

That's not a, that's not a run of the mouth. It's probably the same ITV commentary who were bemoaning Palace before Chris Richards played the ball up. They went, oh, here we go again. Palace just giving the ball back to him. And then into Metcetre, it went, and away we went, and it was 1-0 Palace. And that was quite funny. On the radio commentary, Sean Dice, who former Everton and. Burnley manager,

literally predicted the goal before the goal was scored. So if you find the audio of that, and in fact, bells, I'll send it to you to have a listener. Please. Yeah,

please do. He actually kind of illustrates how Pallas could score a goal. And then within a matter of minutes, Palace have scored the goal that he's just described. So, yeah, Sean Dyshe now doing performances as Nostradamus in the UK and abroad now.

But a lovely piece of commentary. And the radio commentary of that game has also obviously gone down in folklore with Palace fans, because it's such a lovely, audible illustration of the day. And you can picture it even without the pictures in front of you. So, yeah, we were getting a bit of grief because we didn't start the game well in that sense. We look good defensively. We look structured, but we hadn't got the ball into Matetta.

We certainly hadn't got Daniel Munos away. So to have that move just happened so perfectly was great, really good. So what about, we talk a lot about Mattel, Meteta's celebrations and his copy of everyone else's celebrations. That's just something that brings us great joy. I don't know if he had any comments on it. He's a wonderful character. And after the game, we saw the Palace Media Team give him what I would describe as a GoPro.

I think it's probably a little bit more technical than that. But they just gave him a selfie stick to just kind of record his celebrations. And the bloke is a lunatic. Like there's no way to describe it. He's unhinged, but he's beautifully unhinged. And there's a moment where the media team, I presume these things have relatively short battery life. One of the media team come up to him and actually say, we need to change the battery. He looks like a child who's had his toy taken away from him.

He's just about to receive an FA Cup winner's medal. And he's actually bemoaning this young media guy. He's saying, give me my stick back. Give me my stick back. Like, he's completely unhinged. But I love it. I love him. I think he's a wonderful striker.

I think he's developed into one of the best strikers in the Premier League. He's very unlucky to not have received a French first team call up. He represented them at the Olympics last year and won a silver medal. But I think he probably would have been called up for the French team in March. But he suffered that horrendous injury. I don't know if you guys saw the injury against Millwall in the Cup where he had to have 26. 26 stitches. A goalkeeper came out and met him studs on.

and it was brutal when he was on the pit he was on the turf for a long time thankfully he was back but that that explains him for any listener of yours that has wondered why he's wearing this peculiar water polo type hat over the past six weeks that's why because he's got to protect 27 stitches in his left ear yeah his left ear was almost severed by a goalkeeper's boot

so that was a very difficult moment for him but thankfully for us he came back quite quickly and yeah I thought it was over for the same season. When I saw that, I was like, ah. You don't know what, you know, that is the type of injury that you just don't know. And he's so lucky that he turned his face at the time, because if that had been kind of studs to front of face and potentially eye damage, then who knows where Jean-Filippe Matetta goes with that. But thankfully, he was out of hospital that night, I think.

And if you said that to anybody at the game that day, and I was there that afternoon, if you said that he'll be out of hospitals by tonight, you would have been surprised because the concern that was had for him at that moment was a big one. But that was part of the cup run. That kind of, as we look back at the cup run, that's just another chapter in this glorious tale of Palace's FA Cup win. Clarify for me, is Jean-Philippe part of the Christian cohort?

I think he has a Christian faith, but I think his celebration where he joins the players on one knee is perhaps that, as Vince has, that kind of just copying a celebration rather than, but hey, who cares whether it's, a true thing or not, he's joining the brotherhood. He's,

he's kind of making one extra there. But yeah, I think so. I mean, I think he's given his thanks to God previously, but perhaps not as strongly as some of the other players in the team. Okay. All right.

What about Chris? What's the view of Chris Richards? I know you guys, you lap up as much kind of EPL as you can, the coverage hosted by Palace royalty herself, Rebecca Lowe. What's the view of Chris being from kind of not Palace supporting Americans,

but just Americans watching one of your guys play in the English Premier League. Jack, let me tell you, they're not impressed for the most part. I've had to defend Chris's honor. Really? I've had to defend Chris's honor more than I would like to. And it's a thing of like there have been, I think people are being a little bit harsh on it. But the performances in the U.S. shirt have been a little shableness. A little shaky compared to, I think, what people's expectations would be,

especially when you talk about a Premier League starting centerback. I have to remind people constantly that just, because, you know, we play a foreback. Yeah, he's one of two center halves, isn't he? Right. And this is something that he's played, like, the amount of minutes that he's played at Crystal Palace in the foreback, whenever he started playing initially, however many minutes I was, probably like 400, maybe 500 or something. that's all that he's played in his professional career.

And so when he comes to the national team, I think you do see a little bit of a adjustment of him. And he's professed his love for being in a back three as well. So he prefers being in the back three. He's mostly played in a back three. And so him playing as a part of a center half partnership, there's some growing there. And I think people are a little,

a little impatient with them. It's tough to change systems, particularly how quickly the games come back. You might play on a weekend for Palace and then play for the US on a Wednesday or Thursday night. He's transitioning from right-hand side of the back three to one or two. Who's he playing with it? Said to half for the states, who's he playing it?

It might still be Tim Riem, um, 36-year-old, 37-year-old, Tim Rame. And then, where's my man, Charles on Yewoo? What's going on? What's happening? He's actually an executive with the US soccer now.

Yeah. Very good. Okay, nice. Carlos Bokanegra, getting a shout? No, it's not happening anymore. Where is he now? He was an executive for Atlanta United, but not anymore. Sorry, I adjust a little bit, but hearing Tim Ream is still your first choice.

Joe Max Moore might still be getting a shout at top. See if Tim Howard can play centerback? Tim Howard. Yovankarovsky here, former Palace playing. Wow. Jack. Pulling some deep cuts here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mark McKenzie would be the other one. I mean, there's a bunch of guys playing domestically here who could. Is Chris the Sirth? Is Chris the Sirth then? Is he the one that definitely starts if he's fit and available? Yes. And then it's someone next to him? Yep.

Yeah. Okay. It's a big year. Yeah. It's going to be a big summer for him because a lot of the big players. bigger players aren't going to be there for this Gold Cup. We've talked about it on our podcast, but it would be nice if Richard sort of takes the team,

takes a leadership role on the team. We need that from him. Yeah, it was funny just what Vince said there, in terms of the lack of football he's played. I think this year he's played 32, he's made 32 appearances for Palace, which is the most in his career. I think before that, his most appearances was like 30

for Buy Munich 2. which is like they're under 21 team. Yep. Even when he had that very good loan season at Hoffenheim, it was cut short by injury. So he just still quite, you know he's 25, but he's still quite junior in terms of his development. Yeah.

You know, I think that will come with games and playing at the level that he's playing in the Premier League. I hope it transitions into the performances that we see for Palace on a weekly basis, you know, start to see them. Particularly, you know, we're very excited to have, potentially one of the starting players for the host of Nekhe's World Cup.

That is very exciting for me. palace fans. You know, one day short of June, it's 12 months away nearly. Yeah. You know, it's exciting. Yeah. And he will. He very likely will be a starter, I think.

I mean, I guess Vince already said that, but. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, just one quickly, sorry, I appreciate we want to wrap up. But just a quick mention, there were two Americans receiving FA Cup winner medals on the 17th. Oh, of course. Matt Turner.

We should talk about him. Yeah. Just very quick mention, all I'll say about Matt Turner is, being number two goalkeeper at any club, particularly when you've got such a definitive number one like Dean Henderson, who is unquestionably Palace is number one. And Matt is only going to get minutes if he picked up an injury or gets some minutes in a cup competition.

It struck Palace fans, and I think Matt did a good buy post on his socials this week. Palace fans have been very kind in their feedback to him because it looked like he provided adequate support to Dean Henderson. but formed part of that nice kind of supportive unit, the goalkeeper sometimes really benefit from without being the threat to his number one position, which probably helps. Dean Henderson knew that he was number one and the fact that Matt Turner was on loan at the club probably meant that everybody knew that that was the situation.

It was a cover position rather than kind of a look at any form of competition. But two FA Cup winners, two USFA Cup winners this year. And Turner did, Turner participated in the run, right? I mean, he. Turner paid in three. So he played in Stockport, the third round game, Doncaster, fourth round game, and then Millwall, the one that I just mentioned.

He played in that game. And then Dean Henderson came in for the quarterfinal onwards, which is often how Premier League clubs do it. You know, if you go deeper into a competition and the tangible winning of the competition becomes a little bit more obvious and a little bit more in sight, you do just play your best players at that point.

And Dean Henderson has been an outstanding goalkeeper for us. So, yeah, Matt goes with our thanks and praise for a season on the books. I think he made four appearances in total for the club. He's got an FA Cup winner's medal, so no doubt he'll be back on the pitch in about 20 years' time and people will say, did he play for Palace? Is that a thing? I can't remember Matt Turner playing for us.

I hope he gets games next season because is he your number one at the moment? Yeah, his position is tenuous, I would say, but he is still the number one. Tony Miola? Is that the one talking? also on TV these days. Oh, is it? Okay. Okay, I'm striking lucky with most of these names then.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, everyone you've named mostly are still relevant within the... They're still relevant in some form. Yeah, love it. Okay. But yeah, he will get games next season, hopefully somewhere. And he'll always have the picture of himself passed out at the pub with the trophy, you know? Never forget it.

Jack, I had to chastise bells a little bit. just this week because he was asking the question is Matt Turner celebrating too hard because he wasn't that much of a part of the run but I'm like man, come on. I think it's a fair question.

There's been a lot of talk I'd imagine you've got lots of listens to the Spurs fans. There's been a lot of talk about how prominent James Madison has been in celebrating the Europa League given that he didn't play on the pitch in the final.

So I think there is sometimes a balance to be found. But, you know, from a palace fan's perspective, we didn't see Matt Turner stealing the cup out of Eberich A's hands or something terrible. No, no, no, no, no. But he might have had a good week, as we would call it over here. You know, might have had a fun time. I felt, I felt bad about it, about it after I got chastised, you know.

I mean, he's a supportive, it's a supportive kind of celebration. He's, he's celebrating in support of everyone else who's celebrating. I'm for it. he's the one holding the drinks on the side we've all been there we've all been there I've loved talking over with you guys I could talk about Palace all the time

and maybe I'll jump back on with you guys towards the start of next season to get a status update we'd love that and we're still you know we'd still like to make a trip to London I'm pushing for it Jack anytime guys I think London is the next logical place to go

got a lot of players there and in the general area, you know, go down to Bormiffsy, Tyler Adams. Catch a Europa League match Crystal Palace. Come on. I was going to say, South Norwoods and Croydon will be welcoming overseas guests next year more than we've ever done so because of the European adventures we're about to embark on. So make yourselves part of that. Come and see us on a Thursday night and then hang around for the Sunday. Oh, we'd love that.

It would be amazing to have you guys over, for sure. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for doing this. We really appreciate it. And congratulations to you. what an amazing thing to witness that. Thank you, guys.

And thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.