Despite relegation, Malcolm Allison had at last got his players performing approximately according to his theories, and there was no doubt in anybody's mind that Palace's stay in the Third Division would be brief, given the improved quality of football seen in the latter half of the season. Although the team began this new campaign with very little difference in personnel - only Derek Possee had gone, inevitably to Brisbane Road - some very significant changes were imminent, which were to have a lasting effect on the club.
| Mel Blyth |
A couple of good early results were a 6-2 defeat of Swindon and an impressive 5-1 victory over Watford in the League Cup, which was Palace's best game to date under Allison. It seemed that confidence in a quick return to Division Two was reasonable, but the manager surprised everyone by releasing two players who one would have thought were crucial to the side. Mel Blyth, who had re-established himself in central defence, and who was the final link with Bert Head' s promotion winners of 1969, was sold to Southampton, and Don Rogers, easily Palace's top scorer in each of his two seasons, moved up two divisions to join Queens Park Rangers. The two players who moved in the opposite direction from Loftus Road were Terry Venables, a famous player well past his prime, and a young Welsh centre back, Ian Evans. Malcolm Allison, justifying his decision to release Blyth, succeeded in damning him with faint praise, but was certainly accurate in the comparison with his replacement:"Mel is a very competent all round defender but I felt we needed more power in the air and in this respect Ian Evans is brilliant." Regarding Don Rogers, the implication was that the much younger Peter Taylor, already being noticed by the England manager Don Revie, had overshadowed Rogers since his arrival, and the opportunity to sign Venables - a good friend of Allison's - would be of more benefit to the club. In fact, Allison already had Venables earmarked as a potential coach, but his sixteen appearances as a player helped to consolidate Palace's position amongst the Third Division leaders. 
| Len Chatterton |
Venables' playing style had always been in accordance with Allison's ideals, relying on accurate passing and conservation of energy, but his physical limitations made things very difficult for him in the rough and tumble of the lower divisions and he wisely decided to finish his playing days at the surprisingly young age of 31, and concentrate on his burgeoning career in management. Indeed, shortly after leaving QPR for Palace, there was speculation that he might return to replace the Rangers manager Gordon Jago, but Venables quickly pledged his future to Selhurst Park, happy for the moment to work as Malcolm Allison's assistant. The signing of the 22 year-old Ian Evans turned out to be Allison's best transfer manoeuvre for Palace, and he immediately became the first choice in the middle of the defence, teaming up with Derek Jeffries once Roy Barry had lost his place after a sudden attack of pleurisy.
| Paddy Mulligan |
Undoubtedly the inspiration for the side was Peter Taylor, who scored for the England Under-2l's on his debut, and went on to play for the senior side while still in the Third Division with Palace, but another player who made an important contribution was Mark Lindsay, one of several youth players thrown into the first team by Allison. Lindsay was used mainly in a defensive midfield position, and occasionally as a genuine sweeper, and was central to Palace's success in the first part of the season. He was quick to the loose ball and accurate in his passing, and exemplified the policy at that time of building attacks from deep positions. Sadly, he lost his form after a good start and was superseded at first by Nicky Chatterton, the groundsman's son, and then by Martin Hinshelwood, both of whom were colleagues of Lindsay in the youth team, and both prone to repeated injuries. At one stage of the season, with Jim Cannon and Dave Swindlehurst established in the side, the average age of the outfield players was under 21 , a reflection of the manager's abiding belief in youth. Swindlehurst, who had started only four first team games the year before, eventually emerged as the best option at centre forward, seeing off Mick Hill and the briefly on-loan Wyn Davies, and went on to finish joint top scorer with 15 goals. He had apparently conquered his terrible pre-match nerves thanks to Allison's novel psychological approach, and another player to benefit from this emphasis on a positive mental attitude was Paddy Mulligan, who won his place back from Stewart Jump after being inspired by a series of films on sports psychology from America. It wasn't long, though, before Peter Wall was back in the reckoning, this time after a bout of hepatitis, and Mulligan's patchy Palace career ended with him moving on to West Bromwich Albion.
| Phil Holder |
Despite an excellent start to the season, which saw Palace on top of the division at the beginning of October after four straight wins, results began to dip as Winter approached, and a sequence of seven games with only one victory pushed them down to sixth place, although still well in touch. Malcolm Allison was clear about the reason for this decline, blaming the poor state of the pitches for reducing matches to lotteries, and advocating a Winter break in the season. He showed his true colours with the splendid cry of "How can you expect an artist to work in these conditions?", in spite of which his next purchase was the artisan Phil Holder from Spurs. Holder's efforts, tireless though they were, could not help to raise Palace into a promotion place, and they eventually finished in a disappointing fifth position, although only a few points away from third place. In the end, it was the form away from home against eminently beatable sides that let them down, together with too many drawn games at home, and once again a lot of entertaining football had led nowhere. Yet despite this, the crowd had stayed loyal, at between 15 and 20 thousand, which was exceptional for the Third Division, and Allison's flair for publicity undoubtedly endeared him to the fans, regardless of his conspicuous lack of success. In the final game of the season, with their Promotion chance gone, Palace lost in front of a miserable crowd of 2,025 at Tranmere, who were already relegated to the Fourth Division. Not a game worthy of too much interest, perhaps, except that it saw the debut of another youngster, the 16-year-old left back Kenny Sansom, who was to develop into one of the outstanding players of all time for both Crystal Palace and England.