Vote A: Palace fans everywhere are counting on you!
FYP editor James Daly takes a little brake from swanning around South America to try and get you all to vote for Crest A, and you'd thought we'd forgotten all about badgegate....

There is quite a bit of support for Badge A in the vote to see which will be the next Crystal Palace logo. For example, I tweeted Henry Winkler, aka The Fonz, and asked him which design he thought was the best and he simply replied "Aaaayyyy". Then I went to Liverpool and asked some Scousers which badge they would choose and they all said "Ay! Ay! Ay!"
Seriously, though, Badge A should definitely win the vote on account of its simplicity. Steve Parish has said that one of the reasons for plumping for a new emblem was because the current one was difficult to replicate on shirts, training wear, memorabilia or even, let's face it, doodling on your note pad in the office when you can't be bothered to do any work. Badge A is a sleek, easy to reproduce, easy to doodle design.
Badges are a lot like football, you have to keep things simple. Option A has all the ingredients - the Eagle, obviously, the Crystal Palace, the red and blue and yet it isn't overcrowded, it isn't a mess (like, ahem, Badge C for example) and it's easily recognisable as a Crystal Palace logo. This is definitely the most important thing about a badge; it needs to scream 'CRYSTAL PALACE' at people. You don't want a logo that people could get confused with another club.
What's the most important component of the badge? The Eagle, obviously. And Badge A has the best eagle out of all of the options. The eagles in the other designs look like they have been adopted from some sort of second hand birds home, but the eagle on Badge A has it all. That's the sort of eagle I'd want to be when I am duly recreated after my death.
So, folks, do the right thing and vote for Badge A. Palace fans - and eagle everywhere - are counting on you.
What do you think? Which way are you voting? Let us know! Comment below...
Cadogan goes out on loan.
Cadogan has been absent from many Palace games this season and the loan move could be just what the player needs to get back into the set up at Selhurst. Millers' manager Andy Scott said: "I've known Kieron for a long time. He can play up front but generally he's a wide player who's quick and direct, he's got good feet, he can cross a ball and that's something we've been lacking. "We haven't really got a natural wide player who can get the ball in the box and provide crosses. He's the supply line we need. "He played last saturday at Blackpool and did very well, getting the penalty for the goal. He'll be able to get out and play some games. "I have a very good relationship with Dougie and Lennie Lawrence at Palace and they're happy for him to come here and play some games for us. "He'll be an asset for us. He's inventive. He's got something we haven't had." What do you think of the move? Let us know! Comment below...
Cardiff 1 Palace 1 (agg) - Eagles knocked out of semi-final in 3-1 penalty shoot outPalace exited the League Cup after reaching the semi-finals, losing 3-1 in a penalty shoot out against Championship rivals Cardiff City. The Eagles entered the game with a one goal advantage thanks to Anthony Gardner's effort in the first leg at Selhurst and it was the centre-back, head held firmly in his hands, his digits covering the agony on his face, who scored the only goal from open play in the second leg. Unfortunately for Palace it came at the wrong end and levelled the aggregate score taking the game to penalties. As expected, it was the home team that took control of the game from early on and they didn't have to wait long before they saw the ball in the back of Julian Speroni's net. Seven minutes in Don Cowie received a ball wide to the right and promptly whipped a dangerous cross low into the Palace box. Gardner lunged to try and stamp out the danger, but only managed to deflect the cross into his own goal.
A Cardiff team filled with attacking intent then laid siege to the Palace goal, but Speroni was equal to shots from Peter Whittingham and Kenny Miller. Aron Gunnarsson saw a headed effort sail over the bar. Miller came close again several times before the end of the first half, narrowly putting the ball wide numerous times. Wilfried Zaha, playing on the left wing, put in Palace's best attacking display of the half. Drawing several fouls from the Cardiff right-back who could do little else to stop the youngster passing him. After the break Palace seemed to have a renewed vigour, but the game soon slipped back into the Cardiff attack, Palace defend routine we'd seen in the first half. Whittingham, again, coming close to widening the margin firing wide and having a freekick tipped over the bar by Speroni. Paddy McCarthy then saved the Eagles, clearing the ball off the line after an Anthony Gerrard header had Speroni beaten. Though the Palace captain soon turned villain, procuring himself a second yellow card for a clumsy challenge on Miller. Though referee Howard Webb, perhaps, didn't have the best of games video replays show this one he got right. Sean Scannell's introduction in the second half almost turned the game around for Palace and the forward released a few shots on goal (though Palace didn't manage a single shot on target throughout the game) and linked up well with the other attacking players after joining the fray. Extra time came and the Cardiff voices that had been so loud previously now fell silent, and the last half an hour of the game was played to a soundtrack of "Dougie Freedman's Red and Blue Army". Cardiff were frantically searching for a goal to clinch the game in open play and but for the post and Speroni's safe hands they would have. Penalty shoot-outTime was called and a penalty shoot out was held in front of the travelling Palace fans. Things started well as Cardiff's Miller stepped up and shot over the bar. (0-0) Substitute Jermaine Easter then stepped up to take Palace's first penalty and had it saved by second-string Cardiff 'keeper Tom Heaton. (0-0) Craig Conway converted the first spot-kick off the evening for Cardiff. (1-0) Sean Scannell took the second Palace penalty of the evening and had his shot saved. (1-0) Rudy Gestede stepped up for Cardiff for their second. (2-0) Mile Jedinak found the back of the net for the first time in red and blue. (2-1) Peter Whittingham converted to put Cardiff further ahead. (3-1) Jonny Parr stepped up to take Palace's last penalty of the evening and sent the ball sailing over the bar. The shoot-out ended 3-1 in favour of the home side. The Doog
"It was a fantastic physical effort. I felt we were asked a lot of questions which we answered. We dug in and I felt we grew into the game. The pride we've shown and the desire to work hard for each other and the commitment to each other was second to none and I'm really proud of that. "I'm disappointed short-term, but long-term I think we can take a lot from the game. We can take a lot from the challenge and the way we responded to it. I thought we were prepared and up for the challenge and we came close tonight. "I think we won a lot of hearts tonight. It was a great cup tie and overall it was a very well-played game. It just wasn't to be.
"With the physical output we had to put out in the game, it's difficult to compose yourself and slot the penalties. "The sending-off was disappointing but I haven't had a chance to see it again but Howard Webb is a very good referee who gets most things right. He got it right tonight I would think. "Cardiff are an outstanding team and I am sure will be in the hunt for promotion at the end of the season, never mind only having 10 men, but we came at them. We showed some fantastic pace on the break. We fight for each other and on another night we'd have maybe taken one of our opportunities, but we deserved to take it to penalties. "We've come a long way in such a short space of time. We've taken a lot from this and hopefully will move on quickly." What did you think of the game? Let us know! Comment below...
Always look on the bright side of lifeAvid Palace fan and FYP Doctor, Martin Searle, takes a look ahead to Tuesday's game in the way 'oldsters' usually do - by talking about the past....
I’m concerned. I won’t pretend otherwise. Palace fans are buzzing for Tuesday in Cardiff, and some seem to think we’re at Wembley already. Us oldsters wince every time we hear a chorus of ‘Que Sera Sera’. “Wait until the final whistle at Cardiff”, we urge. Because we’re worried, not just about tempting fate, but about how the youngsters in particular (the fans, not the players) will deal with crushing disappointment - if, Dougie forbid, that happens. In fact, Palace fans will deal with disappointment if we must, because we know that there is a silver lining to almost every monsoon cloud breaking over us. Sometimes it takes a long while to realise that there was a silver lining. And some of it may be seen by some as clutching at straws rather than silver. If I may, I’d like to share my experience as a season-ticket holder for 42 seasons (not bad for somebody in his early 40s *cough*), and train the rest of you up a bit. And as an extra challenge, ask for your help in finding the positive in a few cases where even I struggle. Let’s start with simple ones: September 1989: Liverpool 9 Palace 0Without this crushing defeat, we wouldn’t have enjoyed the 4-3 win in the FA Cup Semi-Final so much – maybe it wouldn’t even have happened, as Liverpool might have realised from the start that they had a battle on their hands. Wembley Play-off Final 1996: Palace 1 Leicester 2 (aet)The game of Claridge’s shin. Last few seconds, devastation. But without it, our own ‘Hopkin, looking to curl one’ last-minute moment a year later against the Blades wouldn’t have tasted so sweet – and I’m sure the experience of 1996 made the Palace support lift their game to urge the lads on in a ‘we’re bloody well not losing twice’ way. And also it gave us a focussed reason to hate #claridgeisawanker. As if one needed a specific reason. April 2001: Wolves 0 Palace 2Shambles. Nothing less. Inept. Spineless. Alan Smith and the team booed off in a hail of season ticket books. A wonderfully empty gesture at the end of the last home game of the season…. Doomed. But this defeat paved the way for a latter day miracle of caretaker Kember, and 2 away wins, with Saint Dougie scoring at Stockport in the 87th minute. And the wait for the result from Huddersfield taking 5 years off my life expectancy. April 2010: Palace 0 QPR 2It felt like we were completely doomed to relegation. And who had beaten us? - nauseating Raynes Park Queenies, who would have stayed in the relegation mire themselves if we’d won, with their manager a certain Colin W, possibly providing the inspiration for Captain Schettino this week. Not just relegation, but possibly the end of the club. Burger Bar Don Madgwick was going around like the Ancient Mariner, saying “that’s it, it’s all over, Palace are finished”. But of course, in the end, without that, we wouldn’t have had Hillsborough…. And I wouldn’t have lost another 5 years off my life, or smoked 20 cigarettes passively at halftime in Sheffield either, but hey.
Now, that was fairly easy, wasn’t it? – some really big highs, only made possible by the lows before them. Let’s try some less obvious ones: December 2003: Palace 1 Crewe 3Not a dramatic promotion loser or relegation threatener, but the very definition of dispiriting. Under a caretaker manager (Kit Symons), freezing cold, tiny crowd, 2 down in 15 minutes, “Jordan,Jordan, sort it out”, 22nd in the table at the end. The silver lining? No, not the amazing run for the play-offs under D*wie, Cardiff etc.. Too obvious. No, firstly, the always-to-be-cherished memory of the fog descending at halftime to the loudest cheers of the night, and “Jordan has a fog machine”. And, secondly, to become a touchstone for loyalty as a Palace fan. If you weren’t there that night, your view wasn’t valid any more. Before then, the best we had for that was ‘at Oakwell in [insert season] midweek in [insert winter month]’. The official attendance was 12,000ish, but that included ST holders, and it was probably 8-9,000. Though if one believes people on the bulletin boards who say they were there, it was probably more like 25,000 – about the same as saw the Sex Pistols at Manchester Free Trade Hall. Oh, and I was there. The Crewe game, not the Pistols, sadly. Boxing Day 1979: Brighton 3 Palace 0Total abject humiliation against our bitter rivals. Palace never showed up on the pitch, though Hove Park and environs were a different matter. BUT it gave us the song “Can you hear the Palace sing, the Brighton run away, and we will fight for ever more, because of……..” A legacy of 32 years and counting (and singing, with the word ‘again’ inserted, of course…). New Year’s Day 2011: Millwall 3 Palace 0Total abject humiliation against our bitter rivals. Palace never showed up on the pitch. (isn’t ‘copy and paste’ useful?). But, probably just in time, the bullet for Burley, and after a bit of Howe’s-your-father, the Dougie managerial era commenced. And of course, we ended 2011 with a perfect bookend at Knuckledragger Central. So we’re smiling now. October 2005: Palace 0 Brighton 1A dreadful midweek game, looking like a ‘classic’ 0-0 until Paul McShane (who is, as I write this, a loan player at Palace!) headed a 78th minute winner for the Weed to win at the Theatre of Improvised Performances for the first time in 22 years. And all the pubs for miles around were closed afterwards on police orders. Nothing to love at all. Except it surely intensified the joy when we won at the Withereddean only a month later, and was another flavouring ingredient in ‘Oh What an Amex Night’. Now, some real straw-clutching: May 2005: Charlton 2 Palace 2Ummmmmmm. We got to sing ‘Who the fuck is laughing now?’ at Charlton fans a lot in the seasons afterwards. Best I can do. Now you’ve got the hang of it, I’d love suggestions on the positives we can take away from these ones – Higginbotham’s injury-time equaliser for Southampton in 2005, the 3-0 home defeat to Watford in the 2006 play-offs, the extra-time defeat at Ashton Gate in the 2008 play-offs, the kicking off the park of Peter Taylor by Southampton as we lost the 1976 Cup semi (it gave me a reason to detest the Scummers, but I’d have found one of those soon enough anyway), and the Mark Hughes equaliser in the 1990 Final that denied us the Cup via a dreadful replay, and condemned football to 20+ years of Alkie F success. Because I’m damned if I can. So for Tuesday, two more to remember. The first will be obscure for many: Feb 1985 Palace 0 Wimbledon 5Embarrassingly one-sided. My recollection is of a Wimbledon team of giants heading every goal from set pieces against a midget Palace defence. But without that, we wouldn’t have had the intensity and passion of the support at the next game, one of my favourites ever, away at Craven Cottage. We battled away to a 2-2 draw, and went completely ballistic behind the goal at the Putney end when the equaliser went in. Steve Coppell acknowledged our cheers as he walked past us at the end with an enthusiasm that showed that he realised that we had a real bond with him. April 1974 Cardiff 1 Palace 1We needed a draw in the last game of the season to stay up in the Second Division by relegating them. We didn’t get it, despite going ahead, and laying siege to their goal after the equaliser. And things got a bit rough around Ninian Park afterwards. But without the relegation to the Third Division, we wouldn’t have had some of the enormous fun of the Big Mal and early Venables (note for younger readers - we liked him then) years, the glamour, the cup run, the fedora, the champagne, the cigars, Fiona Richmond… Ok, we, the fans, didn’t actually get those last three things… So why finish with these two? Because I think we have a bond with Dougie that is shaping up to be as strong as the one with ‘Sir’ Steve, and because if with that, passionate support, and a great team effort, we get another 1-1- draw in Cardiff, we’ll be grinning all over our faces, and won’t need to be looking for silver linings (although we’d instantly have been given a huge one for the FA Cup defeat at Derby). But keep practising – if you’re a Palace fan, you’re going to need that skill at SOME point in the future. It’s part of the fun of the rollercoaster ride. What do you think? Let us know! Comment below...
Badge B - the outsider's choice?FYP's American correspondent Rob takes a look at the new crest most have been associating with that game the yanks themselves pretend is football (you know, the one where they run around wearing body armour and rarely ever do ball and foot meet) and manages to inject a little reason into the 'badgegate' debate...
Ah, the simple task of trying to see the other side's point of view -- a task I disliked at school, a task I loathed at university and a task I a absolutely hate doing as an adult. I have an opinion and I want others to know it. I listen to the views of others usually with the intention of disagreeing. So when our web editor asked me to write a piece about the new badge B, I told him I didn't think I could do it. I'm going to be honest, I was not its biggest fan -- on first viewing it just didn't represent Crystal Palace how I would want my club to be represented. However, the more thought that went into it, the more I studied and attempted to understand it, the more I appreciated it. It took some time but I now understand why badge B is the outsider's choice. Lets start with the most negative aspect of the design - its style. Of course, the overriding argument against it is undoubtedly that it looks 'f****** American' and I do understand that point of view, but the issue with American badges is that they represent newly formed clubs with very little history to reference. American clubs are franchises, free to be moved from city to city, without really having regional or social ties. They are often nondescript purely for that reason. Palace’s badge B doesn't go down the American route because it actually contains all of the crucial elements that make it Crystal Palace FC. It is far from nondescript. Take a look at all of the other options. None of the Eagles actually look like Eagles. None of the Palace's actually look like the Crystal Palace. Both of these entities are beautiful objects and yet are incredibly difficult to represent in a modern yet respectful form. Badge B goes some way to doing that. It shows an Eagle proud, aggressive. It includes the Palace's lattices with lines of reflection. It embodies our core values - red and blue, proud of our history yet forward looking with drive and determination. If there were a change I could make it would be that it would need the inclusion of FC in its title. It's a minor, pedantic detail but it sets us apart from clubs that don't include it. We are a football club and shouldn't be ashamed of that fact. Of course there are choices that others will laud over this design but, if the vote were to side with it, I believe it would soon become a popular symbol of our club. It is different but then our entire club is different. We should embrace that difference. What do you think? Let us know! Comment below...
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Young winger Kieron Cadogan has been sent out on loan to Rotherham United until the end of the season.






