Why Crystal Palace’s FA Cup triumph provides hope for the future of English football | OneFootball

A good two hours after the final whistle at Wembley, Crystal Palace staff were still bringing crates of beer into the dressing room, as the players started to emerge. Manager Oliver Glasner had already told them inside that he long ago felt this was a “special group”, who could do “impossible things”. This victory was certainly something that felt so agonisingly out of reach for the club for so long. As such, some of the players were just buzzing from the euphoria, others were joyfully refreshed. Match-winning star Eberechi Eze had a huge smile as he strode out, proudly displaying his winner's medal. Will Hughes was a few yards behind, bottle of Kopparberg in hand, singing the goalscorer’s name. Joel Ward, after what was one of his last games for the club, was displaying the FA Cup itself. Chairman Steve Parish was meanwhile with his young son, talking about what it means for everyone.

Some in the Palace contingent were by then able to admit the sheer terror they felt when the board showed 10 minutes stoppage time, and the idea that this could be an even closer and crueller way to lose it than in 1990 and 2016. That didn't happen. Oliver Glasner’s team stayed resolute, not letting anything through.

The fans could then let it all out. The number of Palace supporters openly weeping was moving. On the tube from Wembley Park, some could be heard talking about “all those 0-0s on Boxing Day, rain on the Holmesdale”. It was a timely reminder of what football is supposed to be about, and also important for English football for other reasons.

On that, Glasner is a manager who players say is tough, and he can be difficult, but he offered some genuinely stirring words on that illuminating element of victory. The Austrian had been discussing some of the more technical aspects of the 1-0 win over Manchester City, when he stopped himself.

“The biggest achievement we can have, the biggest success we can have is not winning the trophy," Glasner began. "It's that we could give thousands of our supporters a moment for their lives. We can give them great times. Maybe they have problems at home, we give them hours and days they can forget all of this, and just be happy.

“This is the biggest achievement sportsmen can do. We did it for many, many people.”

This, to repeat a phrase commonly used on the day, is what it's all about. It is not, if you wanted to extend that further, for state-owned clubs or investment funds to just accumulate trophies and parade them for political or financial capital.

And that is why there is an importance to this win beyond the euphoria that Palace enjoyed.

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Crystal Palace's FA Cup victory has wider implications on English football than just success for the club (Nick Potts/PA Wire)

It has been written on these pages countless times that football - and especially English football - has been enduring an era of increasing financial disparity and declining unpredictability. The same wealthy clubs tend to win all of the time.

Even the comparable joy that Newcastle United had on winning the Carabao Cup was caveated by the fact it was made possible through the takeover of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

This season has admittedly felt more diverse and unpredictable, with a temporarily strong middle class that have competed for some one-off reasons. That had translated to the FA Cup, but there was this consistent concern that it would just end with the most predictable result possible: City winning again.

Palace did everything possible to ensure that didn’t happen. And the club finally lifted the FA Cup, their first ever major trophy, after 119 years and two lost finals. You only had to look across Wembley to see what it meant.

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Crystal Palace fans celebrated winning the FA Cup at Wembley (Getty Images)

So while that was obviously the greatest moment in Palace’s history, it is also essential for English football. The game needs to show clubs can have hope. Palace can be an inspiration - and an example.

When you speak to people in football about the club, there is huge respect, but they don't speak of any secret formula. There’s not Brighton’s analytics. Palace have actually built a fine modern team, in a slightly old-fashioned way.

The appointment of Glasner was obviously the key. You can see why Palace quoted Bayern Munich at least £30m for him last summer. Parish has since described it as “a moment in time”. They went for a brilliant coach on the up, whose career has also evolved in an old-fashioned way. Glasner has now won two valuable major trophies for lesser-resourced clubs, after the 2021-22 Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt. That was another victory, he said, that “no one expected”.

Except maybe him, and his squad, given the belief he instilled. Palace fancied this. You could sense it around Wembley beforehand, that this was their day. Glasner is also particularly suited to the group.

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Oliver Glasner has transformed Crystal Palace and led them to their first major trophy win (Nick Potts/PA Wire)

Palace are famously sitting on one of the three most fertile areas for footballers in the world, in south London. And, although they often lose young talent to Chelsea, this squad has really maximised that talent.

Everyone now wants Eze. He is the pick of a brilliant young squad, complemented by astute signings. Dean Henderson, the man of the day, was a surprising signing when first made but a calculated upgrade in goal. Daichi Kamada put in everything. Daniel Munoz, the official man of the match, has brilliantly linked Glasner’s team together. There’s then that defence, which rivals now say is one of the best in the Premier League - and potentially Europe, where Palace are now going for the first time, through Europa League qualification.

Glasner has built the team on the robustness of Chris Richards, Marc Guehi and Maxence Lacroix. The Austrian smiled as he spoke about the “passion" they put into “sliding tackles”, adding “we had to defend at a top, top level".

From that, Palace may also be one of the finest counter-attacking sides around. There is certainly a belief that the team could have qualified for Europe through the league had Adam Wharton been fit for more of the season.

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Marc Guehi (left) and fellow defenders Chris Richards and Maxence Lacroix provide a stable base for Crystal Palace (Adam Davy/PA Wire)

All of this is amplified by a supreme spirit, which could be seen around the dressing room after the final, and that Glasner quickly intuited. It is also something amplified by the Christian beliefs of many of the players, who pray together a lot - especially the backline. That is something not always discussed, but is developing into a trend in the modern Premier League.

There is then that extra element that people in football enthuse about with Palace, that naturally has quasi-religious elements: the fans. They certainly enjoyed deliverance, salvation, rapture, whatever you want to call it.

Glasner said "you can see what you get with patience". He made a point of mentioning the support that stayed with them during a difficult start to the season when they lost five of their first eight games and didn't win until their ninth in late October.

“Then you deserve it, when you always stick together."

There are few lessons there, and an example. There’s also inspiration. How couldn't there be, from such joy? This really is what it's all about.