In the Premier League’s inaugural 1992/93 season, Crystal Palace were among the founding members after a comfortable 10th place finish the year before.
However, following the departure of goalscorers Ian Wright and Mark Bright, Palace did not have the necessary firepower to maintain their top-flight status and they slumped to a 20th place finish, relegating them to the old First Division.
Now managed by Alan Smith, Palace won promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking after winning the First Division in 1993/94.
The 1994/95 season was difficult for the South London side, as despite reaching the semi-finals of both domestic cups, they finished 4th bottom and were relegated as the league had reduced from 22 to 20 teams.
Palace lost the play-off final in 1995/96 against Leicester 2-1. Nonetheless, one year later and under the guidance of returning manager Steve Coppell, they beat Sheffield United 1-0 at the old Wembley to return to the top division.
Back in the Premier League, Palace were met with the similar fate of relegation as they finished bottom of the league, only registering two home wins all season.
In the aftermath of the 1997/98 season, the club was taken over by Mark Goldberg who insisted that under his stewardship Palace would become a European power. However, this was not to be as during the 1998/99 season the club went into administration, emerging with Simon Jordan as its new owner.
In the early 2000s, Palace’s absence from the top-flight coincided with the coming and going of several different managers. However, it wasn’t until the appointment of former Palace player Iain Dowie in 2003 that the club was promoted, following a 1-0 play-off final win against West Ham at the Millennium stadium.
But Dowie could not keep them in the division and after a draw with Charlton Athletic on the final day, relegation to the newly labelled Championship was confirmed. Palace finished 18th despite Andy Johnson registering 21 league goals that season.
During this period in the Championship, Palace narrowly avoided relegation to League One twice in 2009/10 and 2010/11. In the midst of those scares, the club went into administration once more. CPFC 2010 took over the club with the aim of ending the seven-year absence from the top-flight.
This goal was achieved in the 2012/13 season when manager Ian Holloway led a team with the likes of Yannick Bolasie and Wilfred Zaha to the play-off final, where they beat Watford 1-0.
Despite this success, a poor start to the 2013/14 season caused Holloway to resign in October. He was replaced by Tony Pulis. The Welshman successfully avoided relegation and guided Palace to an 11th place finish, an achievement which won him the Manager of the Season award.
Pulis left the club shortly before the start of the 2014/15 season and was briefly replaced by Neil Warnock. However, following his dismissal, the club bought Alan Pardew out of his contract at Newcastle to manage the Selhurst-based side.
Pardew led them to an 11th place finish and the following season took Palace to their first FA Cup final since 1990. Despite his touchline antics, the Eagles lost 2-1 to Manchester United. Simultaneously, he achieved a 15th place league finish that season.
In December of the 2016/17 season, Pardew was sacked and replaced by Sam Allardyce. He helped Palace achieve a 14th place finish, but unexpectedly left at the end of the season to spend more time with his family.
In a change of tack, Palace appointed their first ever permanent foreign manager in Frank De Boer, however, he was sacked after just 77 days.
He was replaced by former England boss Roy Hodgson. During his tenure as manager, the club enjoyed relative stability, achieving 11th, 12th and 14th place finishes.
The most notable being 2018/19 when Hodgson’s side reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and recorded a famous victory away to Manchester City, a match which saw Andros Townsend score the Goal of the Season.
Hodgson departed at the end of the 2020/21 season following a 14th place finish and was replaced by Patrick Viera.
In his first season, Palace reached the FA Cup semi-final and finished 12th in the league. Despite this, Viera was sacked in March 2023 after a 12-game winless run.
In his absence, Hodgson has returned to the club until the end of the season. Palace fans will hope that they can cling on to their best assets as they start to build towards next season.
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