This time last year, Crystal Palace went into the Christmas break sitting 22nd in the Championship, following a 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.
The club were seemingly heading in one direction under the new owners and former Scotland manager George Burley, having conceded 40 goals and recording just six wins from their opening 22 matches.
Fast forward to today and the Eagles are sitting eighth in the league on the back of Monday night’s 1-0 win against Birmingham at Selhurst Park.
The win marked a 10th league clean-sheet of the season for a team that has developed into a well organised unit under first-year manager Dougie Freedman. Add to that a League Cup semi-final and a batch of exciting youngsters, and suddenly a return to the dizzy heights of the Premiership for the first time in seven years doesn’t sound so far-fetched.
After initially joining the Palace coaching staff in March 2010 as an assistant to Paul Hart, club legend Freedman, who made over 350 appearances over 10 years and two spells at the club, didn’t have to wait long to earn his opportunity in management. On New Year’s Day, 2011, a 3-0 defeat to Millwall saw Burley sacked and the former assistant thrust into the hot-seat against fellow strugglers Preston. The game was won 1-0, providing the catalyst for a run of one defeat in five.
A two-and-a-half year deal was signed by the rookie boss soon after and the faith shown by the CPFC 2010 consortium, co-chaired by lifelong fans Steve Parish and Martin Long since the end of Jordan’s calamitous tenure, was rewarded with survival sealed in the final few weeks of last season.
Expectations for 2011/12 therefore weren’t sky-high despite encouraging signs shown by the team under the novice manager in the previous campaign. But despite an opening day defeat, the positivity of the chairmen and coaching staff, including Australians Tony Popovic and Scott Guyett, remained, and has since helped the club to a safe top-half position with a sniff of the play-offs, despite the odd poor result.
The highlight though arrived on November 30th, when goals from seasoned performers Darren Ambrose and Glenn Murray sensationally knocked Manchester United out of the Carling Cup quarter-finals at the suitably named Theatre of Dreams.
A result of this magnitude might just be remembered as one of the great cup giant-killings, but for Freedman, it could mark the beginning of an exciting new era at Crystal Palace. The club’s youth system has once again developed a number of fantastic youngsters in Sean Scannell, Nathaniel Clyne and Wilfried Zaha, all of whom starred in that fixture and are highly sought-after throughout the top division of English football.
Fast-forward to December 19, 2011, and the latest episode in the remarkable upturn of fortunes. A steely performance against a tough Birmingham side, a game in which three points were sealed by a header from South African Kagisho Dikgacoi, moved them within two points of sixth-placed Leeds.
It wasn’t just the result though that mattered; it was the maturity of the performance which, while not vintage, showed the signs of hard work paying off for Freedman and his back room staff. Usually, the ability to grind out points is associated with the very good sides in the division, and while the Eagles might not be there yet, they can more than have a say in the play-off race should the upward curve continue.
Freedman, however, continued to remain grounded, perhaps wary of the relegation scraps of the previous two campaigns and a history of ups and downs at the club.
“Deep down the back of my mind tells me we’ve got a small chance,” he said after the 1-0 win.
“But the front of my mind is realistic and tells me we are still growing and we might be growing too quickly, in terms of being contenders, but we’ll give it a go.
“I’ve got to be realistic with the lads and tell them to be patient and hopefully one day we will get there.”
Next up for the Eagles is a tough trip to leaders Southampton on Boxing Day, a trip that Freedman and his side won’t fear after consecutive wins have put their season back on track. A League Cup semi-final with Cardiff City in January also presents a fantastic opportunity for Palace to setup a glamour tie with either Manchester City or Liverpool at Wembley in February.
A remarkable transformation for a club whose supporters can scarcely lay claim to a lack of entertainment in south-east London.
On a broader scale, it’s not just Crystal Palace who are aiming for the big time with an enthusiastic and driven young manager on board. This season Cardiff (Malky Mackay), Burnley (Eddie Howe), Portsmouth (Michael Appleton) and recently Hull (Nick Barmby) all have managers under the age of 40 who are entrusted with taking their clubs to the Premier League.
Several other clubs in the division are managed by bosses in their early 40s, while Brendan Rodgers and Paul Lambert have already tasted success in the Championship and taken their careers, and their clubs, up on the next rung of the English football ladder. This marks a new generation of managers coming through the ranks, and Freedman agreed with the notion.
Speaking to the UK Mirror in February; Freedman acknowledged the challenges of being a rookie, but believed that vitality was important. ”You need so much energy to do the job. It is becoming a young manager’s game,” he said.
”Chairmen are young too, and that is probably why so many of us are getting the chance. It is all about enthusiasm and forward-thinking.”
”I like a challenge and that is what this job is. We are at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to transfers, because of finances. But I am ready to battle with the bigger clubs and come up with other tricks.”
While not applicable for every football club, the fresh approach taken by both Freedman and the club is something that should be applauded, especially given the turn of events in the past 12 months. This story of quick invigoration may be the way forward for clubs, rather than turning to an old experienced mind to save the day.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
The Matilda scored the first two of her team's goals in the 4-0 win.
With the Liverpool manager leaving the club after this season, his West Ham rival can't wait for him to go - in the nicest…
Arsenal have survived a late scare at Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham to stay narrowly ahead in the compelling race for the Premier League title. A…
At the time this column usually goes live next Monday morning, I’ll be in the stands at Selhurst Park watching Crystal Palace take on…
And just like that, another A-League regular season (sans one game) is in the books and we look ahead to the finals. Let's recap…
Salah was dropped from the starting side for the visit to London - and the striker was involved in a furious confrontation with Klopp…
