1983-84

George Wood
It was obvious - even to Mullery - that the present squad would struggle again, albeit in a particularly poor Second Division, and his Summer clear-out meant the departure of Paul Hinshelwood, David Price, Ally Brown, Chris Jones, Tommy Langley, Ian Edwards and David Fry. Fry's replacement was Arsenal's George Wood, who was joined by some other experienced old professionals - John Lacy, Andy McCulloch and Les Strong. McCulloch was intended to partner Mabbutt in the forward line, but Mabbutt again sustained a serious injury - this time tearing his knee ligaments in a pre-season friendly - and wasn't able to play again until after Christmas. Mullery had also bought two other forwards, Tony Evans and Stan Cummins, but still found it necessary to take John Fashanu on loan, with a view to signing him permanently. At this time, Fashanu was very much in the shadow of his more famous brother (as were Hughton and Mabbutt) and after playing just two clumsy games for Palace he was sent back to Norwich. His reincarnation a couple of years later at Millwall surprised everyone, and not even Mullery's sternest critic could blame him for failing to spot a future England player.

The one new signing who did look particularly good was Stan Cummins, who his former manager Jackie Charlton had said - with his usual hyperbole - would one day play for England. He was certainly the best new player to arrive at the club since Kevin Mabbutt, but he suffered the same bad luck with injuries, only managing to play in fits and starts.

After a very slow beginning in the League, with only two points from five games, Palace could at least look forward to progressing beyond the first round of the League Cup, having comfortably beaten Peterborough 3-0 in the first leg. In the return game, however, Palace contrived to lose to the Fourth Division side by the same scoreline and were then knocked out on penalties, to earn themselves fines and a public scolding from Mullery. That outburst proved to be Mullery's most effective motivational act in his entire two years at Selhurst Park, because his team went on to win their next three league games, something unheard of since that famous victory against Ipswich - almost exactly four years earlier - and the ensuing hullabaloo.

The curious thing about Palace during this period was that they didn't seem to be playing to any recognisable plan, and were limping along from game to game relying more than ever on Vince Hilaire to make things happen. The success of Watford in Division One, and of Dave Bassett's Wimbledon team, was inspiring furious debate about the merits of the direct, long ball game, and upsetting the p

John Lacy
urists, but Mullery resisted adopting such tactics; he still believed that his ragged troops could carry on playing the passing game established by Venables, and in an attempt to recapture some of that former glory he brought Peter Nicholas back from Arsenal. The deal was an unusual, initially temporary arrangement, and Ron Noades appealed to the fans for money to finance the transfer. If they didn't quite dig into their pockets as he had hoped, at least most of them felt that Nicholas' return was exactly what was needed to bring about an improvement in results, but his influence was strangely negligible. He had obviously matured as a player whilst at Arsenal, but however well he played he couldn't raise the performance of his team mates sufficiently, and long before the end of the season it was clear that he had lost heart. Nicholas also missed a month of the season after being injured whilst playing for Wales, and at one stage so many of the first team squad were injured that debuts were given to two 17-year-olds, David Lindsay and Wayne Martin. This severely weakened team ended 1983 with just one point earned from seven games, and slipped from being fairly comfortable in the middle of the table towards the relegation area, above only Derby, Swansea and Cambridge.

As soon as Cannon, Nicholas and Mabbutt - arguably Palace's three best players - returned to the side, though, they started playing for the first time under Mullery with a bit of discipline and vigour, and the first few weeks of 1984 brought their best results of the entire season. The third round of the F.A.Cup paired Palace with First Division Leicester City, but the strike force of Gary Lineker and Alan Smith could find no way past Billy Gilbert - once again playing at his best - who then went on to put Palace through with the winning goal. They were drawn at home again in the next round to West Ham, then occupying fourth place in Division One, and put up their best show yet to draw 1-1 in a game which they fully deserved to win. Sadly, Palace didn't play nearly so well in the

Andy McCulloch
replay a few days later and the Hammers won 2-0, but it was good to see a bit of self confidence creeping in. Similarly, in the League, there were two particularly pleasing results against Newcastle and Middlesborough. Newcastle had bought Kevin Keegan to help them win promotion, and their team also contained Terry McDermott, Peter Beardsley and Chris Waddle, so it was a surprise that Palace were such convincing 3-1 winners, and that they played so well. The next game, against Middlesborough, was always likely to be tough one, but was made even harder after both Gilbert and Mabbutt were sent off before half time. However, the nine remaining players did themselves proud, and the policy of passing to Vince Hilaire on the wing at every opportunity paid off when he was brought down for a penalty, from which Peter Nicholas scored the winner.

Just for a while it looked as though Mullery had at last got the machine working properly, but Mabbutt had come back from injury far too soon and was forced to miss a further two months of the season, which coincided with another slump in results. With Giles and McCulloch also injured, Alan Mullery's last signing for Palace - Phil Barber, bought from Aylesbury for £7,000 - was thrown into the team sooner than expected at the age of 19, briefly forming a lightweight partnership up front with Stan Cummins. He looked alright, but nothing special, and Palace ended another season with the usual problem remaining unsolved; that despite a sound defence, in which Gilbert had been outstanding, they simply couldn't score. For such an experienced striker, McCulloch's haul of four goals all season was pathetic, and the top scorer with seven goals - Tony Evans - had already been sold to Wolves.

Relegation had never really been a live possibility, but was only completely out of the question with two games to go, and Ron Noades was forced to accept, after two miserable years, that Alan Mullery really didn't have a clue. As soon as the season finished Noades sacked his fourth manager in as man

Tony Evans
y years, and not a single tear was shed for the departing Mullery. A few days later the new manager was announced as Dave Bassett, the charmless cockney who had dragged Wimbledon up from the Fourth to the Second Division in successive seasons, and who clearly had a talent for getting mediocre footballers to play to their strengths - surely the right man for the job at Palace! It was a big decision for Bassett to leave Wimbledon at such an exciting time, and he quickly realised it was the wrong one when he arrived at Selhurst Park and looked around him. Whatever horrors he saw left no doubt in his mind, and only four days after being appointed he turned straight round and went back to Plough Lane, leaving the Palace faithful more suspicious of Noades and his methods than ever. Inevitably, Malcolm Allison was one of the first names to be suggested as the new man at the top, along with Steve Kember, Brian Horton and Lou Macari, but in the end the surprising choice of Steve Coppell and Ian Evans delighted everyone. Coppell was still only 28 years old but his playing career had been truncated by injury, whilst Ian Evans was still massively popular with the fans, reminding them of happier times. In complete contrast to the reaction to Mullery's appointment, the Palace supporters were behind Coppell from the moment he came, because he had earned universal respect as a player, and as a spokesman for the P.F.A., of the kind that his predecessor never could.

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