Crystal Palace v Bournemouth 12.05.2019 // 3pm
IN FOOTBALL IT IS SO HARD TO FIND THESE SORT OF CHARACTERS; HE IS A REAL LEGEND OF PALACE
THE CAPTAIN 07
I am confident we can better them. Another season comes to an end today at this great club that I have had another campaign of captaining with pride. I must thank you all for your support it makes a big difference to all the players.
Looking back on our previous home game, I think the Everton match ended up with the best outcome we could’ve hoped for over the 90 minutes. It was a very good point, against a good side and we can take a positive that we got another clean sheet at our home of Selhurst. The coaching staff for Cardiff made a very good decision to put more attacking options into the side for us because they knew Cardiff would look to open up the game as for them it was a game of ‘to be or not to be’ in terms of their Premier League status. Our attackers made a lot of chances, especially in the first-half; I was very pleased for Michy and Jordan, and especially Jordan because he hasn’t started for a long time but in training he has been working hard and he deserved his chance and took it well. What a great night it was down at Boxpark Croydon with so many of you. And I must mention Aaron who deserved all the accolades he collected that evening; he has had an amazing season. I hope this will give him further energy to continue in the same way and to grow – I am happy to tell you that I voted for Aaron as my Players’ Player of the Season, with Wilf my close second choice. On awards, Vicente was rightly your ManBetX Player of the Month after some amazing saves, most notably against Everton and Arsenal. Ever since he arrived he has been amazing and it is not easy to keep
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a goalkeeper of Wayne’s quality out of the side. For us it is a luxury to have so many quality keepers, as both of them have done amazing jobs this season. On the topic of quality goalkeepers, we were sad to hear that Julián Speroni will be leaving us after 15 years of loyal service. In football it is so hard to find these sorts of characters; he is a real legend of Crystal Palace. Every single day he comes in and shows respect to us all, and we all respect him so much as he is a quality person. Turning our focus to today’s game against Bournemouth, and I am expecting an open game from both sides as it is the last game of the season, and we are looking to try and win our last game for our fans. Bournemouth have had a good season, and they’re dangerous on counter attacks with a lot of pace throughout their squad but I am confident we can better them today. For one final time this season, make some noise!
I KNOW YOU WILL SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION FOR BOTH PLAYERS – I PERSONALLY CANNOT THANK THEM ENOUGH
THE CHAIRMAN 09
give it their all to finish on a high Welcome to the supporters, players, staff and directors of AFC Bournemouth to Selhurst Park today, and to each and every Palace fan, for the last time this season.
Another season draws to a close. The most important thing was to secure our Premier League status for a seventh season. There have been some memorable moments, particularly the away wins at Manchester City and Arsenal. I’m proud of Roy, his staff and all the players who have worked tirelessly to get us to this position – and thankful to every one of you that has supported us this season. I am as committed as ever to go on to even bigger and better things next season, and push for a top 10 finish. But first, we have the opportunity to secure a record Premier League haul of 49 points from a 38-game season with a win today. I believe that 11th would be a fairer reflection of our season than 12th or even 13th – so with your support, I have no doubt the lads will give it their all to finish on a high. Last week, Darren Powell’s Under 15s team won the Premier League’s Super Floodlit Cup against Wigan Athletic, after coming back from a goal behind twice. It’s the fourth edition of the cup which only Manchester City and Chelsea have won – and our team knocked out current holders Chelsea in the previous round. What a result! Huge congratulations to all the award winners at our excellent end of season awards event at Boxpark last week – Aaron, Andros, Kian, Malachi, Ashlee and Ciara. Aaron has had a magnificent season, and richly deserves to be awarded as your Player of the Season, and that the players voted him as their Player of the Season is testament to just how good he has been and how much he has developed. There have been several other impressive performers –
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and it’s always hard to single out just a couple, so I was pleased to see you vote Vicente as the ManBetX Player of the Month for April. Today, we bid farewell to club legends Julián and Jason. Julián has devoted the best 15 years of his playing career to our club; he will go down in the record books and will be remembered fondly by us all. You just don’t get many blokes like Julián in elite football any more – he is a model professional, ultra-committed, loyal, and has set impeccable standards to his team-mates down the years. His contribution to this club cannot be overstated. Jason’s leadership has been immense since joining us in 2013, putting his body on the line for the club week in, week out, and scoring some huge goals. He’s been a rock for us on and off the pitch, and someone I value hugely. We will rightly acknowledge their contributions today, and I know you will show your appreciation for both players – I personally cannot thank them enough. Finally, we’ve got a surprise up our sleeves today – so keep your eyes peeled! As usual, all the players will do a lap of the pitch at the end of the game to show their appreciation for your support, so please do stay and enjoy this time with the players. Have a brilliant summer. Up the Palace!
We all know so much about Wilfried Zaha the Crystal Palace legend and Ivory Coast international player. However, here, the Eagles forward lets Dan Blazer behind the curtain of what a day looks like for Wilfried Zaha the man and Game of Thrones super-fan.
40 SCOTT GUYETT
A daunting 9,500 miles separated Scott Guyett from his childhood dream back in 1995. Having moved from England to Australia aged just five, Palace's now Head of Sport Science & Strength and Conditioning Coach retained an attachment to his country of birth that intertwined with a passion for football. An Aussie accent in tow and nothing but a drive to make it in the sport he had always loved, Guyett left his family behind in the southern hemisphere to break into football back where he was born. But it was a move of unimaginable risk. With no professional football to his name and knowledge only amassed from internationally posted Shoot magazines “about four months late”, Guyett moved in with distant family to begin a career in non-league football with eighth-tier Gresley Rovers. “I look back on it now and think, ‘honestly, how did I do it?’” he reflected. “I’m amazed that I’m still here 25 years later because that was a tough time. I was on my own. I was with family but they were distant family, they weren’t close family. I look back now and think, ‘that was tough: really, really tough.’” Jobs at various warehouses across the English Midlands - including a spell with Carlsberg Tetley preceded Guyett’s eventual break into the beautiful game, 9,500 miles and 20 years on from emigration to Australia. It was Oxford United who Guyett put pen to paper with in his first professional deal, though that didn’t prevent him from slipping back into non-league football with Chester City just the following season. Perhaps aptly given the now-43-year-old’s determination to succeed in professional football, the Seals earned promotion to the fourth tier in the same campaign that Guyett joined and the Australian was back once again in the Football League. Spells with Yeovil Town, Aldershot Town, AFC Bournemouth and a brief stint with Dorchester Town followed before the defender chose to hang up his wellworn boots having realised and completed his dream 15 years after leaving Australia.
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SCOTT GUYETT 41
It was at that time he arrived in south London and at Crystal Palace. “I started a Sporting Exercise Science degree when I was at Yeovil,” he explained. “I had always been interested in performance and a lot of that came from my own frustrations of not playing at a higher level. At the time I used to think: ‘why am I not playing at a higher level? What’s stopping me?’ A lot of it was probably physical: I wasn’t quick enough and probably wasn’t strong enough. “The more I did the degree, the more I enjoyed it. It almost became more important than my playing. I was coming to the end of my career and then the position at Palace came out of nowhere. "Chris Short was doing this job before me and went to Leicester City when Sven-Goran Eriksson took over. Short was actually on my university course. He rang me and said: ‘look, listen, the job at Leicester has come up and Palace said I can go but they need to find someone immediately.’ I had literally just finished playing. I came up and had a quick chat with George Burley and that was it.” Today, Guyett has spent over 10 years with Palace, seeing them enter administration, bounce back and then soar into the Premier League, where they have now consolidated their safety for the sixth successive time. From thumbing through outdated Shoot magazines to lugging crates of mass-produced lager across warehouse hangars, Guyett had become a professional footballer and taken his career one step further: into the Premier League. Casting his mind back to earlier years in Australia and overalls in the Midlands, he said: “To work with a Premier League football club for the length of time I have is incredible. I thought towards the back end of my playing career that that’s me done; I’d never envisaged being part of a Premier League football club for such a long period. “I look back on that time and I’m quite proud of the fact that I saw it through and came through it because it was a tough, tough time."
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After nearly 15 years spent with Crystal Palace, Juliån Speroni continues to hold the affection of the south London faithful. Here, the recent recipient of the Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Contribution and four-time Player of the Season reflects with Ben Mountain on his decade and a half in SE25 at the end of a truly remarkable journey.