Crystal Palace will be aiming to win the first-ever FA Cup in their history having been runners-up twice but some supporters are only just finding out a fascinating fact about the club
Crystal Palace face arguably one of the biggest weekends in their history at Wembley this week. The Eagles fly into Wembley to take on Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Their third final appearance, the Croydon outfit have twice found themselves on the losing side. They were at first defeated by Manchester United back in 1990 before falling to the Red Devils once again nearly three decades later in 2016.
Palace will certainly be hoping that they avoid a similar fate against another Manchester-based opponent on Saturday. But ahead of the game, some neutrals have been discovering an intriguing fact about the club – their nickname wasn’t always the Eagles of which they are now referred to as.
In the early years after the club’s formation in 1905, they were simply known as the Glaziers in a reference to a person who works with windows and glass. Of course, Palace have a long association with the Crystal Palace – that still features on their bench – until it was burned to the ground after a huge fire in 1936.
The old nickname was eventually dropped in favour of their more recognisable ones in 1973. The club also changed their kit and started wearing red and blue vertical stripes, with a new logo also being introduced.
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And while that is consigned to the club’s history, current boss Oliver Glasner is out to write more at Wembley. Writing in his column for the FA Cup final programme, he said: “What is clear is that we should feel no burden.
“Pressure comes when you are trying to avoid relegation, when you are playing for your future, the future of the football club and the club’s employees. But playing in a Cup Final means that you can achieve something incredible.
“This is what we are all playing for, this is the childhood dream! When these players were kids, I’m sure they all watched the Cup Finals and dreamed of one day being involved in one. Now, everyone has the chance to fulfil that childhood dream.”
And Glasner has promised not to change his approach despite the lofty task ahead of his side this coming weekend. He added: “I feel it’s important not to do anything special or specific just because it’s a big game. The message will be to stick to our strengths, stick to the way we want to play and stick to what has worked. Our approach was successful in the win against Fulham, and again against Aston Villa, so we don’t change anything.
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“Of course, we will have analysed Manchester City, but we know what we can do, and what we want to do, and we’ll try and adjust what we feel we need to in order to get the right result.”
“We have played Manchester City three times since I have been at the club and we have always scored two goals, but so far we have only managed to draw one of those games. We conceded twice at home, then four, and five times at the Etihad Stadium. It shows that we are able to score goals against them, but that we need to be more consistent in our defending.
“That will be one of the main topics in our preparation. When you concede four or more goals against a team like City it is very hard to win the game. However, when you score two goals against them, you also should have the chance to win.”
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