Crystal Palace’s third-ever FA Cup Final is now just days away – and ahead of the match, we’re delighted to share a range of South London’s favourite voices, looking forward to our return to English football’s greatest stage…
Today, we hear from legendary goalscorer, turned eminent broadcaster, Ian Wright, who joined the club from semi-professional Greenwich Borough back in 1985 – and went on to become one of the finest forwards in Crystal Palace history.
The striker was one half of the famous ‘Wright & Bright’ partnership which fired Steve Coppell’s Palace to the top of the game in the late '80s and early '90s – the duo remain just two of eight men to reach three figures in terms of goals for the club.
And in 1989/90, with Coppell’s Eagles, against the odds, reaching the FA Cup Final at Wembley – overcoming much-fancied Liverpool, 4-3, in the semi-finals, just months after being thrashed by the same opponents in the league – it appeared a first-ever major trophy was destined for South London.
Destiny, as it turned out, also beckoned that day for Wright.
During the course of the season, the striker had twice broken his leg – only to recover and get himself back into contention just days before the Final against Manchester United.
Wright began the day on the bench, but came on after 69 minutes. With his very first touch of the game, he slipped in between the defenders, turning Gary Pallister before placing the ball perfectly beneath Jim Leighton to make it 2-2.
Into extra-time the Final went, and with barely two further minutes on the clock, Salako crossed – and Wright, of course, slammed it home. The stuff of dreams.
Sadly, it was not to be: seven minutes from the end, Mark Hughes ran in behind and squeezed a finish between Gary O’Reilly and Nigel Martyn in goal, taking the game to a Replay which – five days later – went in United’s favour.
The story is one of Crystal Palace legend – and one we had to discuss, 35 years later, with the man himself…
"Well, obviously, the FA Cup means the world to me – it still does. When I grew up, the FA Cup Final was the game that I watched religiously from 1970, all the way through.
"At the time, the match felt like one of those FA Cup fairytale stories out on the pitch.
"I’d broken my leg – my fibula – twice that season. You work hard to get back, then your team wins the semi-final against the same Liverpool side which beat them 9-0 earlier that season... and then when you get to the FA Cup Final, you’re playing a great Manchester United side…
"After getting injured for the second time that season, I had just enough time to get fit again, working with the physio, David West.
"Missing the semi-final win was devastating, but I knew that if we beat Liverpool to get to the Final, I would literally have just days with respect to the work that I had to put in.
"So you can imagine, being at Palace, thinking I was going to miss out on the biggest day in Palace's history… all those things are going through your mind while you’re trying to get fit – as well as nerves!
"I remember I played in a game closer to the Final, and I played within myself, because I didn't want to get injured and definitely be out of it.
"Steve Coppell pulled me aside afterwards and said: ‘We're going to have one more training game, full 11-a-side game – and if you play like you did today, you won't be in the squad for the Final’ – so I had to go for it!
"Then, in the Final, it was 70 minutes in, and I was desperate to get on….
"It’s still the greatest moment I've had in my career – easily – simply because of everything that it had entailed up to that point: my emergence from Palace, and to reach the biggest stage in English football, and all of a sudden I'm on the Wembley pitch…
"... and then what happened after that was the stuff of fairytales. It really, really was.
"I say it now, and I mean it: I’ve won domestic honours in the game, but winning that FA Cup with Palace would have been my most prized possession, because of the elevation and emergence of that team.
"We finished third in the First Division. We deserved something. Crystal Palace deserved something. Steve Coppell, with Ron Noades… we deserved something in that era.
"I would have loved to have won that Cup, and we were only seven minutes away... Seven minutes! Honestly, I still can't take it!
If you see how I celebrated with John Pemberton, it was disbelief!
—Ian Wright
"We were seven minutes away and I’m thinking: 'wow, I’ve watched this happen to other people.'
"There was that beautiful FA Cup story right there, and I’m thinking: 'oh my gosh, we’ve done it.'
"I was so surprised when I scored the second one – if you see how I celebrated with John Pemberton, it was disbelief! I was like: “oh my god, is this happening?”
"So you can imagine, when Mark Hughes scored that goal… I can’t take it!"
"Obviously we were in a 4-4-2 when we played. It was an unbelievable team.
"You look at the midfield, and we had a very, very robust midfield: Geoff Thomas and Andy Gray just to start.
"Then you had the very quick Eddie McGoldrick on the right, and John Salako on the left. And then, at right-back, we had Pembo – one of the quickest players I've ever played with. We had Andy Thorn, Eric Young or Gary O'Reilly, or Burkey [David Burke].
"This is why it makes me so sad that that team didn't get anything, because once Steve Coppell put that team together and we went up in 1989 and got into the First Division, we showed what we were capable of.
"We showed what we were capable of when we finished third, and that's why I'm saying the FA Cup would have been great for that team.
"But when you say comparisons, I don't think you can compare the midfield. Because like I say, Geoff Thomas and Andy Gray – quick, big, strong, robust, hard shot, great passing, that kind of stuff. And then, obviously, me and Brighty up front – it's a different era.
"Look at Pembo and Muñoz – obviously Pembo was blasting down that right wing, but Muñoz does it in a different way, being maybe a higher full-back and getting involved with the play.
"But I think the game is totally different now."
It was very emotional for me, because the Palace fans showed me so much love there.
—Ian Wright
"Obviously, people see my affinity with Arsenal – but my love for Crystal Palace has always been there. I text and speak to Steve Parish on a weekly basis, because of what Crystal Palace means to me.
"I will never forget those Palace fans, and that’s why, when I played in Geoff Thomas’ testimonial game at Selhurst Park [in 2006 against Manchester United] and I scored, I had to run to them – I want them to know how much I love them.
"I know there are generations who will only see me affiliated with Arsenal – it’s just the way it's gone. But my whole family still are massive Palace fans.
"My Mum was devastated when I left. My Mum only came to Arsenal once, and that was when I broke their goalscoring record – but she went to Palace about nine, ten times. She loved Palace so much.
"It’s very difficult to explain, because a lot’s gone on behind the scenes. But at the Fulham game, the FA Cup quarter-final, it was wonderful for me. It was very emotional for me, because the Palace fans showed me so much love there.
"I’m a 61-year-old man. Things have happened before, you think to yourself 'those things happen'.
"But I wouldn’t be doing anything that I’m doing now if it weren’t for Palace, and the chance I got from Steve Coppell.
"There's a story I’ve told many times about [my childhood friend] David Rocastle, who did support Crystal Palace while he was at Arsenal, and before. Everybody on the estate had an affinity for Arsenal, so you can imagine when he went there, everybody supported Arsenal even more.
"But my affinity to Palace will always overpower everything else. The fact that I supported Arsenal from a young age, I think that can get confused – but Crystal Palace means the whole world to me.
"It means everything to me."
"Palace are finishing the season very well. They look very good. They look very comfortable. They don't look tired. They look very energised. They’ve got top players coming up, doing the business.
"Everything you want from a team going into a game of this magnitude seems to be happening.
"And with the manager, Oliver Glasner, he seems very calm. He's very composed about the whole situation – because this is another massive episode in Crystal Palace's history, and I think that we've got a great chance of beating this City side.
We know what City are capable of… but then City also know what Palace are capable of!
—Ian Wright
"Obviously City themselves have come into good form coming into the end of the season, but what would you expect? They've got great players. But this is an FA Cup Final.
"This is an FA Cup Final, and this is Palace getting there and deservedly being there, and beating good teams to get there, and beating them well.
"There's no reason for Palace to go in there and fear City. We know what City are capable of… but then City also know what Palace are capable of!
"I'm going to go for a Palace win, because obviously that's what I want. To be there with Crystal Palace, against a Manchester team – obviously the wrong Manchester team – and Palace winning… it would almost be like we won back then, and I will've been there.
"That's what I want more than anything else."
Crystal Palace v Manchester City