May 8 2003

Crystal Palace

After the thrills and passion of a second season under Trevor Francis, Jamesey discovered the perfect antidote...

Wandering through the Whitgift Centre in Croydon (don't ask why) I looked in on Waterstones book shop and there, in the sports section prominently displayed, was a red-and-blue striped feast of nostalgia.

Entitled "Palace in the Big Time...the Best of Eagle Eye 1987-1994", this cracking compilation served two purposes for this reviewer.

In my lifetime as a Palace fan, those years were supreme and the picture on the front of the book is quite amazing.

An impossibly young Sir Steve, followed by an almost childlike Geoff Thomas, walk onto the Wembley turf flanked by an equally youthful Alex Ferguson.

Suddenly it is May 1990 and all seems possible. How things have changed in the past 13 years.

In those days, although we were the underdogs, the vast economic chasm between the elite and the rest had not really opened up and we were up for the FA Cup as much as much as anyone else, as indeed proved to be the case.

The other fact that struck me as I flicked through the 300-odd pages of the superbly produced book was the sheer energy and vitality of the early fanzines.

The layout was often confusing, the typography eccentric and the words raw, misspelt and ungrammatical.

But the passion shines through and I am always a sucker for pictures and comments about Dave Madden, Andy Gray, Eddie McGoldrick, Lee Sinnott, Ian and Marky, etc, etc.

Wishing no offence to the only current Palace fanzine (you are sadly missed, Cris Lehmann and One More Point), it has come to mirror the glossy football mags you see on the newsstands and has rather distanced itself from the roots of fan enthusiasm.

Congratulations to the book's editors Tony Matthews and John Ellis for a terrific job.

Rush down with your £15 (a bargain, honest) to Waterstones and grab a copy before they sell out. The book is published by Eagle Eye Publications.

I have to admit a a smidgen of self interest here. There is at least one article by a keen young "trainee" football writer called James Evans included in the compilation.

So I write articles for no fee for a fanzine (naturally). The words are reprinted in a collection and I get no fee (of course not) and I pay £15 to buy a copy...

Am I a mug? Well, I'm a Palace fan. Yes, of course.

Email Jamesey with any of your comments to Jevans3704@aol.com

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