*** Note: the ads run on this video are because of ITV claiming copyright and insisting on them. ***

Why was Clive Allen so disliked by Palace fans in the 1980s? It's a long story and this game provides the bulk of it.

This game aside, Allen played for QPR in 1980 and refused to sell him to Palace. So in the summer of 1981 Arsenal came along and paid £1.25m for him. Within a month and having played 3 pre-season friendlies he joined Palace in a straight swap for Kenny Samson who would go on to be one of England's greatest ever left-backs.

So for Allen to then leave within a year and at a fee less than half of what Arsenal paid QPR for him... doesn't pass the sniff test but does say a lot about how Palace was being run at the time as we were selling off players on the cheap.

For Palace fans of a certain age the Terry Venables defection to QPR in 1981 was a bitter pill to swallow. Not only had we lost a manager but he took the backroom staff and between 6-8 first team players with him.

Okay, the players didn't just leave for free but he came back and picked off the players he wanted for a very reduced price. Presumably to reduce our wage bill.

For example, the league game in September 1981, QPR featured in their line up John Burridge, Terry Fenwick, Mike Flanagan, Clive Allen and Tony Sealy.

Sure, the question can be asked why Venables didn't try to take the better players like Cannon, Hilaire, Murphy, Nicholas and Gilbert instead. I know in the case of at least 3 of them it was down to staying loyal to Palace.

Don't be fooled into thinking it is just bitter older fans like me that dislike Allen. Whenever he co-commentates on Palace matches for Canadian or other overseas TV channels he can't hide his dislike of Palace.

What did we ever do to him? Call him a Palace reject. Compared to what's chanted today he got off lightly.

This is part 3 of the full and unedited F.A. Cup Final program that was broadcast on the BBC live on Saturday 12th May 1990.

This part features the half-time discussion about the first half leading up to handing back over to John Motson.

----------------- Source Material Information -----------------

As far as I'm aware this has only ever been broadcast once, on the day itself, and was a live program as was typical at the time.

Old videotapes were, in today's terms, 352x288 in size. I recorded the program on a 3-hour video TDK tape set to long-play mode, doubling the length I could record on the tape, which lowered the quality even more.

The tape hasn't been played since the day it was recorded and has mostly been stored in a cool dark place, the basement of my apartment building.

I captured the video on a Sony VCR, the last model they ever produced, into a digital video camera then compressed with Sony Vegas 18 and an NVIDIA codec.

Naturally, if you put sh*t in you're gonna get sh*t out as you can't polish a t*rd. It is what it is and I put this here for posterity.

When time permits I will try applying some filters to improve the colours, sharpen the picture and so on.

Just remember, this video will look at its best on a standard definition TV rather than being upscaled to HD or full HD let alone to 4K.

It is what it is. :-)

This is part 1 of the full and unedited F.A. Cup Final program on the BBC that was broadcast on 12th May 1990.

As far as I'm aware this has only ever been broadcast once, on the day itself, and was a live program as was typical at the time.

Old video tapes were, in today's terms, 352x288 in size. I recorded the program on a 3-hour video TDK tape set to long-play mode, doubling the length I could record on the tape, which lowered the quality even more.

The tape hasn't been played since the day it was recorded and has mostly been stored in a cool dark place, the basement of my apartment building.

I captured the video on a Sony VCR, the last model they ever produced, into a digital video camera then compressed with Sony Vegas 18 and a NVIDIA codec.

Naturally if you put sh*t in you're gonna get sh*t out as you can't polish a t*rd. It is what it is and I put this here for posterity.

When time permits I will try applying some filters to improve the colours, sharpen the picture and so on.

Just remember, this video will look at it's best on a standard definition TV rather than being upscaled to HD or full HD let alone to 4K.

It is what it is. :-)

In December 1979 European Cup winners Nottingham Forest came to Selhurst Park. At the time Forest were on a terrible run of form, having had four straight defeats and led to Brian Clough getting a lot of criticism in the press and led to rumours of a rift between him and assistant manager Peter Taylor.

Forest had future Palace manager and first one million pound footballer Trevor Francis in attack and would later in the season go on to finish 5th in Division One and win the European Cup for the second time. Forest are still the only English club to ever win the trophy twice in a row.

Crystal Palace team: Burridge, Hinselwood, Sansom, Nicholas, Cannon, Gilbert, Murphy, Francis, Walsh, Swindlehurst, Hilaire. Sub: Fenwick.

Nottingham Forest team: Shilton, Anderson, Gray, Bowyer, Lloyd, Burns, O'Neill, O'Hare, Birtles, Francis, Robertson. Sub: Needham

Sadly, football played on rain soaked muddy pitches are a thing of the past so take half an hour out of your day to see a classic Palace game from the 1992-93 season.

Crystal Palace took on Chelsea in the League Cup Quarter Final at a rain soaked Selhurst Park. In the Palace side were a number of youngsters trying to make name for themselves such as Grant Watts, Dean Gordon, Bobby Bowry and George Ndah.

This was the era when we played with Chris Coleman as a striker and Eddie McGoldrick as sweeper. Sadly, we were relegated at the end of the season.

If you look closely you'll see a young 22 year-old Expat Eagle standing on the Holmesdale Terrace soaked to the skin but happy as Larry because I was with my brother and his friend who were both Chelsea fans! :-D

Crystal Palace team: Martyn, Humphrey, Bowrey, Coleman, Young, Thorn, Ndah, Thomas, Watts, Rodger, McGoldrick. Subs: Gordon, Newman.

Chelsea team: Hitchcock, Clarke, Sinclair, Townsend, Lee, Donaghy, Stuart, Fleck, Harford, Newton, Meyers. Subs: Le Saux, Spencer.

See the Crystal Palace team dubbed the Team of the Eighties play Malcolm Allison's Manchester City in the old First Division.

There are some great Palace players on show here, basically the first 11 is the team that played against Burnley in the game that won the Division Two Championship on 11th May 1979.

Crystal Palace team: Burridge, Hinshelwood, Sansom, Nicholas, Cannon, Gilbert, Murphy, Kember, Walsh, Swindlehurst, Hilaire (sub Smillie)

Manchester City team: Corrigan, Ranson, Bennett, Caton, Futcher, MacKenzie, Daley, Power, Robinson, Reid, Silkman (sub Henry)

Coming soon is the podcast that literally no Crystal Palace fan has asked for - it's the return of The Expat Eagle Podcast!

Do you agree with me? Have your say in the comment section below or write to me at the email address below.

►Email me: [email protected]

I look forward to this weekend's important game verses Watford at Selhurst Park

Two games, six points and two clean sheets! Are we starting to look like a team again or is it too early to say?

We secured 3 vital points and kept a clean sheet! Are things finally beginning to look up for the Palace?

Crystal Palace's victory over Manchester United in the 1972-73 season. The season that saw them relegated from the old First Division.

The famous '5 penalties' match from 27th March 1989, refereed by Kelvin Morton.

Ian Wright scored a fantastic goal from the left touchline. Mark Bright scored a penalty then missed one. Wright missed one then John Pemberton missed one.

Alan Curbishley scored a penalty for Brighton.

In this video I talk about Crystal Palace's last 4 games, look forward to the Christmas period and the transfer window.

Read more from me or download the audio podcast of this video at:

My website: http://www.theexpateagle.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theexpateagle
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theexpateagle/
Podcast on Acast: https://www.acast.com/theexpateagle
Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/se/podcast/the-expat-eagle/id1142547223?l=en

Or find more articles written by me at:

The Eagles Beak: http://www.theeaglesbeak.com

I detail the reasons I think Alan Pardew's reign at Crystal Palace started to go wrong and why it can't recover.

My website: http://www.theexpateagle.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theexpateagle/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TheExpatEagle
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheExpatEagle

Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/TheExPatEagle
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/se/podcast/the-expat-eagle/id1142547223?l=en