Wednesday fans ruined our chance to celebrate (From Croydon Guardian)

Wednesday fans ruined our chance to celebrate

4:46pm Friday 7th May 2010

• Print
• Email
• Comments(4)

With the euphoria of the final whistle on Sunday came the outpouring of emotion that Palace fans had been waiting for since January 26.

Finally we had something to celebrate.

After all we had been through, this was going to be the moment we could let all the relief out and share it with the players who had shown so much heart and dedication to the club.

The Wednesdayites in the North stand on-the-other-hand had no such plans and showed as much grace in defeat as a toddler who had lost a game of musical chairs and duly threw an almighty tantrum.

In the ensuing pitch invasion, Wednesday supporters proceeded to assault a youngster and a female steward as well as throwing punches at Clint Hill while chasing him half the length of the pitch.

Ever since their have been a myriad of excuses offered up by Wednesday fans and officials alike.

Almost none of which however portray events as I saw them from the corner of the lower tier closest to the North Stand.

Palace fans have been blamed for being the catalyst for everything that happened after the final whistle and while it is fair to say our presence on the pitch escalated matters it does nothing to justify the violence that followed.

Yes, the fifty or so Palace fans that entered the field of play were wrong to do so.

They should have thought twice about the ramifications of their actions but their only intention was to celebrate with the players and not goad or revel in Wednesday’s demise as home supporters would have you believe.

By the time many had got passed the police cordon, that was also blamed, most fans had started to congregate behind the goal with the players in front of our own fans and so where not even on the pitch.

Then there was the inexcusable treatment of Clint Hill.

It was a genuinely frightening sight seeing a player being chased from the pitch by such a large and violent hoard of ‘fans’.

What would have happened if Clint had tripped? It’s unthinkable.

Once again some have tried to excuse this behaviour by painting Clint Hill out to be the bad guy.

Though what they have failed to mention is that Clint was only in the situation of being the last Palace player on the pitch because he had spent the immediate aftermath of the game commiserating Wednesday’s players.

Freddie Flintoff was lauded for that during the Ashes, Clint was assaulted.

I am sure both clubs will receive some sort of fine for failing to control their fans and the matter finished with.

The saddest part of Sunday’s events from a Palace perspective though was the unfinished business between our fans and players.

We were robbed of our chance to celebrate what a truly great season this has become and also what an achievement it was for this small group of players to overcome everything that has been thrown at them, to hold their nerve on the final day to survive.

Even in Darren Ambrose’s post match interview amid all of the celebrations (and Johnny Ertl’s questionable dancing) he demonstrated how much the players wanted to share the moment with the fans.

“I can’t explain how I’m felling,” he said.

“We hope it calms down now and we can go and give the fans what they deserve.”

The sad thing is that with such an uncertain summer lying ahead of us, this squad could be broken up in the coming days and weeks and the club may not get it’s chance to celebrate as one a day that will be remembered for as long as there is a Crystal Palace Football Club.

Comments are closed on this article.