We've all had man crushes on Palace players from time to time, but Glenn Murray is probably going to have to take out a restraining order after reading this piece by Sam Hesketh...

In the wake of the Quarter Final victory against the Champions of England and the Champion's League runners-up of last year, in which a Palace XI that consisted of a number of non-first team players took on and defeated a team jam-packed with internationals and multi-million pound signings, it would be easy to get carried away. But not here at FYP. No Sir, not us. We have always had our feet planted firmly on the ground and despite the heroic Goliath-slaying victory against the cream of the crop at Old Trafford by our team of incredible little Davids, we won't let our heads get stuck in the clouds.

And so, with that mind state firmly entrenched in us all at FYP Towers, we move on to speak about the single greatest striker that club, nay football, has ever seen - Glenn Murray. The man that scored last week's winner with one of the most beautifully executed headers in living memory, has endeared himself to the Palace faithful since his arrival from the team whose unbeaten home record in the league we broke (a game in which the Magificent One scored a peach of a goal) with performances as the lone front-man that could serve as an education video for all young upstarts wishing to grow up to be just like their hero. That hero being Glenn, obviously.

His first goal came against a Blackpool team that had not long before been taking on all-comers in the Premier League and yet within minutes of coming on against the team whose kit makes Katie Price look positively homely, Murray had flicked a goal past the keeper's near post that mere mortals wouldn't have even had the capacity to imagine, let alone score. Against West Ham, who won the World Cup single-handedly a mere 40-odd years ago, he slowed time down, picked his spot in the very corner of the net, blinked, and scored what should have been the winner against a team whose manager believes himself to be the Glenn Murray of coaching. He is, in fact, the Leon Knight of management is Allardyce - an inflated opinion of himself and a man who is a thoroughly obnoxious phallus.

Palace have had some brilliant strikers in the past - Peter Simpson, Ian Wright, Mark Bright, Dougie Freedman and many more, all of whom provided entertainment, joy and more importantly, goals to the team. However, with Glenn Murray, there's a player that can take on the world if he wanted to, and yet the man is so humble as to join Palace and help us move towards our goal of world domination, rather than simply join Barcelona [who he turned down to join the Eagles]. Not convinced? Let's compare him to some of the so-called greats:

Well what about Pele? He scored 1,000 career goals and many see him as the best forward that's ever played the game. Sorry, he never played in Europe. If Glenn played in North America or Brazil, he'd score that amount in a single season. Pele is out. What about Alfredo Di Stefano then? He played in Europe and scored hundreds of goals in his career, can he compare to the Mighty Murray? Clearly not. In an era when goals were scored due to lack of defensive ability, even Jermaine Easter would've helped himself to at least seven goals in a season. Imagine Murray playing in the 50s and 60s, they'd have to invent new numbers to record the amount he'd score.

Ok, then how about the modern era? What about Lionel Messi, the man universally regarded as the best player in the world and a man who scored over 50 goals for Barcelona last year? Surely he's got to be close to Murray? There's no doubting Messi is a decent player, but let's face it - did Glenn need to take growth tablets to be a good player? No. He was born six feet tall and has lived within his means ever since, banging goals in all across the country. Has Messi ever scored against Blackpool? Has the little Argentinian bagged two almost identical goals against West Ham and the South Coast Minnows? No, he hasn't. Can Messi chest the ball down from seven feet up in the air and hold onto it with his back to goal whilst Ambrose plods down the wing towards him? Don't think so.

Let's face it, Glenn Murray is unplayable. He's a legend in his own lifetime and he's a player that every single club on the planet would crawl belly-first over hot coals to have in their team. When a £30m striker like Berbatov can't score a goal at Old Trafford and a free transfer can, it shows the prowess, desire and talent of said free transfer. And that's both the power of Palace and the man himself. Even shouting his name after "For Fuck's Sake" sends him to the top of the Twitter trends and goes viral within hours, that's the pull of the man. From a decent striker with a nothing League 1 club to the summit of footballing history in South London, Glenn Murray has it all. And he's ours.

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What do you think? Is there a better striker in existence than Glenn? Let us know! Comment below...