Crystal Palace's 10 Greatest Players of All Time

Crystal Palace are a side with a long and storied history, one of London's most iconic clubs and – more pertinently to this conversation specifically – home to some fantastic players over their 114-year history. 

Various trips to and from the top flight in the last 50 years have left them with a long list of greats and club legends to flick through...so we're going to do that. 


Wilfried Zaha

James Ward-Prowse,Wilfried Zaha

The best player at Crystal Palace for the last five years has done a fantastic job at keeping the Eagles away from the Championship. Wilfried Zaha may have wished to leave the club on numerous occasions, but there is a very strong chance that they wouldn't be in the Premier League right now without the Ivorian. 

The 27-year-old has scored 56 goals in 349 games for Palace since he came up from the youth system, with a brief dalliance with Manchester United breaking up his time in south London. He may not be a prolific goalscorer (he's not a striker, so that's fine) but Zaha has been the talisman an average Crystal Palace team for years now. 


Johnny Byrne

Bobby Moore,Johnny Byrne

Nicknamed 'Budgie' due to his never-ending chattering, Johnny Byrne signed his first professional contract on his 17th birthday - not a bad way to celebrate. Six years later, the Englishman had become a Palace favourite in the lower leagues, but moved to West Ham where he found major success with an FA Cup win and seasons of European football.

He rejoined the Eagles after his five-year spell at the Hammers and reached 100 Palace goals - putting him fourth in the club's all-time top goalscorer list at the time. Byrne reached his peak in 1964 when he bagged a hat-trick in a 4-3 win over a Portugal side containing legend Eusebio. 


Julian Speroni

Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur - FA Cup 4th round

There is an affectionately-named restaurant named Speroni's Restaurant at Selhurst Park, in honour of the club's former keeper - showing his legendary status at the club. The Argentine left Palace this past summer summer as a club legend, having joined almost 15 years earlier. He won their player of the season award an incredible four times – practically unheard of for a goalkeeper.

Only three players have played more than Speroni's 405 games for the club, and no goalkeeper has ever approached that mark for the club. On top of that, he has kept the most clean sheets in Eagles history (112), arguably the most crucial of them coming against Watford in the 2013 play-off final that sealed promotion. 


Mark Bright

Mark Bright of Crystal Palace

No doubt a Crystal Palace legend, Mark Bright is one half of the legendary Wright-Bright duo - the club's greatest ever forward partnership. With Bright scoring over 100 goals from 1986 to 1992, it's easy to see why.

After experiencing a difficult childhood where he was taken into foster care, Bright played for several clubs before he was signed by manager Steve Coppell for £75,000. His partnership with Wright proved lethal and in 1990, he reached the FA Cup final with Palace and was named their player of the season. 


John Jackson

John Jackson

Nicknamed Stonewall by the Crystal Palace fans due to his safe hands - John Jackson began his career at the Eagles. 

The goalkeeper represented the club for nine years, from 1964 to 1973 and made 346 appearances. He also made a staggering 222 consecutive appearances in the first team, the equivalent of almost six full Premier League seasons. 


Andy Johnson

Andy Johnson joined from Birmingham in 2002 and spent the next four years scoring goals for fun in the top two divisions. The English striker averaged a goal every two games – ending up with 85 goals in 161 appearances. 


His goals were crucial in getting Palace promoted in the 2003/04 season, where he was the First Division's top goalscorer. The following season, only Thierry Henry scored more goals than his 21 – more than half of them penalties – as he kept the Eagles in the Premier League. Johnson was sold to Everton in 2006 for £8.5m, but has come back to Palace after retirement as an honorary patron of the club's foundation.  


Vince Hilaire

Vince Hilaire

Similar to Wilfried Zaha, Vince Hilaire was a winger who boasted great skill on the ball, with frightening pace to give full-backs nightmares. He started his career at Crystal Palace aged 17 in 1977 and became a key part of Palace's famous 'Team of the 1980s'. 


Hilaire made 293 appearances and scored 36 goals for the club, where he helped drag them all the way from the Third Division to the First.


Ian Wright

Ian Wright

Arguably Palace's greatest ever striker - Ian Wright is the club's third-highest ever goal scorer with 117 goals in 277 games - no player has scored more goals for the Eagles since the Second World War. 

The former Arsenal striker spent six years at the club between 1985 to 1991, producing one of the club's finest moments when he returned from a broken leg to score a brilliant brace against Manchester United in the 1990 FA Cup Final. It wasn't enough in the end – Mark Hughes scoring late to take the match to a replay, which Palace lost. 

It wasn't easy for Wright to become the brilliant footballer he was though. He had an abusive father and was bullied by his step-brother, a past he has spoken about extensively and touchingly. 


Jim Cannon

Kenny Hibbett,Mel Eves,Jim Cannon,Terry Gennoe

Mr Crystal Palace is the club's record holder for senior appearances (660). That more or less says it all. Jim Cannon was a constant presence at centre-back from 1973 to 1988, a reliable and commanding defender who was even deployed at left-back and as a central midfielder in his time at the club. 


Cannon made his debut against Chelsea aged 19 and scored the second goal in a 2-0 victory. He then went on to play under seven different managers in three different divisions and was a symbol of stability at the club. 


Geoff Thomas

Geoff Thomas,Steve Coppell

Arguably Crystal Palace's greatest ever player, Geoff Thomas guided and captained Crystal Palace through their most successful period in history, including their best ever top flight finish – third in 1990/91. The midfielder made 249 appearances in six seasons for the club – grabbing 35 goals along the way. 


Possibly more notably, Thomas was given three months to live in 2003 when he was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia. Fast forward to today, he's made a fantastic recovery and led the first amateur cycling team to ever tackle three Grand Tours back-to-back, a real testament to the character, energy and drive he brought to the pitch. 

Back to football – he won Palace's player of the year award in his debut campaign and played a vital role in getting the club promoted to the First Division. A talented all-round player, he also achieved nine England caps. 



Source : 90min