Stephen Rodin

Cameo - Single Life (1985)

The Real Thing You To Me Are Everything - 1976

Rest in Peace, Rory ❤️💙

I talk about the summer of 2010 a lot and I’m going to do it again now. Having been given a 10 point deduction for entering administration in the 2009/10 season, Crystal Palace survived relegation to League One on the final day away at Sheffield Wednesday thanks to a 2-2 draw, with a group of players giving blood, sweat and tears for the shirt having not been paid a penny for 3 months. On May 31st, it was announced that unless a deal was struck for new owners to purchase the club inside 24 hours, the club would be liquidated and cease to exist. Fans mobilised, protesting outside both Selhurst Park and importantly Lloyds Bank’s HQ (they owned Selhurst Park and until then had been unwilling to sell it back) in central London, leading to fresh talks and the bank agreeing to sell Selhurst to CPFC2010, a fan-led consortium. We went into the following season with just 9 first-team players, simply happy to still have a football club to follow every weekend and won promotion to the Premier League a mere 3 years later, where we still reside to this day. The last 12 months have seen the club win its first ever major trophy in the FA Cup, beating the behemoth that is Manchester City in the final, getting the better of Liverpool in the Community Shield and taking a maiden voyage into European competition proper in the Conference League. Last night at Selhurst Park, we beat Fiorentina 3-0 in a quarter-final first leg and I couldn’t stop myself from having a small moment of contemplation as to how ridiculous it all felt. I never expected to see us do this, no Palace fan truly did, I support the club because my Dad does, just as supports Palace because his Dad did before him. I couldn’t have contemplated nights like the one we experienced yesterday as a little boy, they felt walled off to our supporters but we’re living through it as I type this. It’s surreal to say the least. I’ll never forget what those players and coaches did for our football club back in 2010, nights like the one we had yesterday are just as much about them as anyone. They kept the club alive and built the foundations for all of this. It’s incredibly special.