QPR v Crystal Palace - F.A. Cup 6th Round 1981-1982 (6th March 1982)

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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.