Clubs: Crystal Palace, West Ham United, Crystal Palace, Fulham.

International honours: England
Caps won at Palace: 1

Johnny Byrne was Palace's chirpy young prodigy of the early 1960s and as such gained the prototype nickname of 'budgie', partly on account of his ceaseless chatter out on the pitch. He was very much the prime reason for Palace's success in climbing out of Division Four in 1960/61 and Johnny's 31 goals for us that season was Palace's post-war scoring record at the time, since beaten by Andrew Johnson in 2003/04.

Johnny's silky touches and ball playing skills, nurtured by Arthur Rowe, drew huge admiration from Palace fans and he inevitably became a target for the bigger clubs but he was still with the Glaziers when he gained his first England cap in 1961. When Johnny moved to West Ham United for £60,000 plus the return of John Brett in March 1962 the fee was the biggest between two British clubs at the time and his career flourished amid the glamour and publicity of Division One.

In the spring of 1967, and to the delight of all Palace fans, Johnny came back to Palace and added another 36 appearances and five goals to his Palace record but then, almost a year later, he moved on again to Fulham. His 259 Palace appearances keep him high on our all-time charts while his 100 plus goals also keep him near the top of the scoring charts.

Quite simply, at his peak, Johnny Byrne was one of the most gifted footballers Crystal Palace has ever known.

 Statistics

	Games	Goals
1956/1957	14	1
1957/1958	29	7
1958/1959	50	20
1959/1960	46	19
1960/1961	45	31
1961/1962	36	17
1966/1967	14	1
1967/1968	25	5
Total	259	101

Source: Crystal Palace FC, Player by Player Since 1960, Rev. Nigel Sands, (1996, Sporting and Leisure Press)