{"id":523,"date":"2025-05-23T19:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T19:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/?p=523"},"modified":"2025-05-29T11:40:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T11:40:37","slug":"weve-won-the-fa-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/23\/weve-won-the-fa-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"We’ve won the FA Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I didn\u2019t write anything after the semi-final because it wasn\u2019t the end of the story.  I didn\u2019t write anything in 2016 because I wanted to forget the day ever happened.  I wanted to write something now because I want to help set those memories in stone forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I set the 2016 final to record and promptly deleted the recording when I got home.  Until this week I\u2019d never seen any of it apart from the odd replay of Jason Puncheon\u2019s goal.  I couldn\u2019t tell you how poor some of Clattenburg\u2019s decisions actually were, I didn\u2019t know just how far we let Wayne Rooney waltz around for the equaliser or that it went in off Joel Ward.  I only know this now because of some of the footage shown in the build up to the game.  Our cup runs since then had been largely forgettable. And let\u2019s face it\u2014who really cares about the cup anymore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On to more recent times. The turnaround under Oliver Glasner last season was remarkable. We arguably played the best football I\u2019ve ever seen from a Palace team across a seven-game stretch. The caveat, of course, was that we played several teams with little left to play for, and we had the most talented player I\u2019ve ever seen in a Palace shirt pulling the strings. He eventually left\u2014allowing Harry Kane to finally win a trophy\u2014and a few others departed too, with replacements only arriving late in the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s fair to say that we started slowly in terms of points tally as the new players integrated into the side and a couple of the more expensive signings didn\u2019t hit the ground running.  But it was clear we were doing the right things\u2014we just weren\u2019t getting the rub of the green.  We had a decent League Cup run, bowing out in the quarter-finals, and then, thanks to some favourable draws in the FA Cup, we found ourselves at Fulham with a place at Wembley on the line.  Underdogs? Sure. But we won 3-0. Wembley awaited, and next came Aston Villa. Again, unfancied. Again, a 3-0 win. Glasner clearly has Emery\u2019s number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hadn\u2019t seriously considered we might win the cup prior to the Fulham game but I was getting a feeling.  Maybe it was all the people saying our name was on the cup this year \u2013 several voices from the Five Year Plan Fanzine Discord seemed convinced.  That\u2019s not really me though, I rarely feel confident and generally find comfort in expecting the worst while hoping for the best.  Too many years of disappointment and watching games sober will do that to you.  I started to entertain the idea in the build-up to the final but we were playing Man City.  I started to entertain the idea as the final drew closer\u2014but we were playing Man City. If anyone asked whether we could win, I said we\u2019d need to be at our best, they\u2019d have to be slightly off theirs, and we\u2019d need a few big decisions to go our way. It didn\u2019t quite go like that\u2014but it wasn\u2019t far off.  I\u2019m not quite at the match yet but just hang on for a couple more paragraphs and I will get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had a season ticket since 2018\/19. For most of that time, I\u2019ve travelled solo, turned up, taken my seat, and left. I\u2019ve chatted with people from the Discord group and other platforms, but games were a solo pursuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m one of the more talkative ones in the group\u2014but also one of the more pessimistic, to the point that some probably think it\u2019s an act. This season, though, I\u2019ve been welcomed into a group that actually exists beyond the online world. It started when I bumped into a chap named Nobby and his son Sam on the way to Selhurst Park, and then occasionally met them at the Pawsons Arms pre-match. That\u2019s become more of a routine this season. I don\u2019t usually go to away games, but Sam and Nobby do, and through them, a wider circle of away-goers has opened up to me\u2014and they\u2019ve become true friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the final. I tried to follow more or less the same routine as for the semi-final because despite what some on the Discord group will tell you jinxing is very real and why risk it?  I walked the dog in the morning, not really feeling that nervous, I\u2019ve got the travel to think about and we were playing the best team in the world\u2014if they brought their A-game, it might not even be close. Let\u2019s just have a good day out, I told myself. Maybe I was kidding myself\u2014but that\u2019s how it felt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I dressed almost identically to the semi-final, and set off on my usual route via Maidenhead to the tube. The pre-game pub: the Jackalope, tucked away in a quiet Marylebone street. On the way, I noticed some scaffolding by a company called Zenith\u2014sharing its name with a minor trophy we\u2019d once won at Wembley. Maybe the stars really were aligning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pub was the same as for the Villa game. The away travel pub expert, Mark, had arranged for it to open early just for us. He was determined to meet the agreed minimum of 12 patrons with the landlord\u2014and when I arrived, a decent crowd was already gathering. Mark himself turned up at 10:59.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t remember everyone, but we had myself, Mark, Sam Nobby and his niece Liv, Lopes, Duncan and his family, Mike and his, Ed (who isn\u2019t really an Everton fan – long story), Robbie, a group of Swedes and a lovely couple who\u2019d travelled from the States especially for the game Tyler and Erin. Others drifted in and out\u2014including the irrepressible Julian, who\u2019d been saying our name was on the cup since before round one. I do believe he genuinely thought it too, his belief was unshakeable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a few conversations with people and actually find myself daring to dream and force myself to catch myself.  In separate conversations we discuss what winning the cup also means.  Palace legend and club captain Joel Ward lifting the cup with current captain Marc Guehi.  Playing in the Europa league.  Being back at Wembley for the Community Shield. The latter one particular ran through my head because that\u2019s a game at Wembley I could take my son Alex too if he\u2019s keen, plenty of children his age at the game but I\u2019m not sure he\u2019d have enjoyed it and in all honesty for a game of that magnitude I am honest enough to admit I would have been unfit to parent him.  But a game that doesn\u2019t matter that is really a celebration of the fact that we\u2019d won something at last? – that would be ideal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I articulated it in the pub \u2013 may have been to Mark and Ed but it doesn\u2019t matter \u2013 but I commented on how the team have faith in the manager but a core of the squad has proper Faith.  Now that\u2019s not my bag but you will see a core of our team pray and look to the sky before games, after goals, after victories and so on.  They\u2019re not shy about it and it\u2019s out there.  Some will reference His plan in interviews. hey went into this game believing it was meant for them\u2014if they gave their all. History tells us that going into battle believing a higher power is on your side is a powerful motivator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being an astute chap Mark spotted that I was getting a bit antsy and decided to give everyone a ten-minute warning to depart the pub and then made us leave after five.  I was glad. I was ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journey to Wembley was smooth. One moment stood out: Robbie spotted a distressed child on the tube and knelt to give him his Palace cap. The kid smiled. Settled. We\u2019d joked about karma-farming in the build-up\u2014maybe that moment tipped the scales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking down Wembley Way and the vibe I got was that the Man City fans were making a lot more noise than the Villa fans had three weeks earlier.  We were soon inside the ground and while the rest of my merry band dissipated to find more liquid courage I headed directly to the entrance to block 139.  Not to find my site just yet but to meet up with Alex (another member of the podcast\/discord group but someone else who has become a good friend).  We\u2019d met there for the semi-final so why not do it again.  He had once again come with his own large group but we made time for that last one to one chat before we went in.  It was pretty close to kick off by the time I actually took my seat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I say my seat, officially it was assigned to Robbie during the booking process but he agreed to swap due to my paranoia about these things.  Worked out for him actually as he got to stand next to someone even more famous than he is.  Robbie might not consider himself famous, he\u2019s in musicals and has had some pretty big roles\u2014and let me tell you, it\u2019s intimidating screeching \u201cGlad All Over\u201d next to someone who can actually sing. As for the more famous person – just a blockbuster movie director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Palace fans outdid themselves at the start and the usually black clad HF group, wearing white for this one, prepared the most amazing display.  Obviously when you\u2019re in the middle of it you can\u2019t really see what it says or what the image is clearly but the message is out there to the opposition fans, the players and the watching world and the message was one of the fans are in this together and we\u2019re going to do our bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not turning this into a tactics discussion but Pep Guardiola had picked a very attacking line up and maybe based on some comments from our manager, or perhaps just being Pep, something very different to how he\u2019s set his teams out against us in recent times.  Man City dominate the ball for the opening 15 minutes before we score the most typical Palace \u201825 goal you could imagine. Front to back in seconds with what I think was only our second visit to their half and the first touch in the penalty area.  The celebrations were suitably loud but that nagging doubt of \u201chave we scored too early\u201d must have been on a lot of minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the game\u2019s biggest moment in the eyes of the watching world, we initially see a VAR check for possible Red Card go up on the board and my first thought was a City player had kicked one of ours but only after it was cleared and people get on their phones do we realise what had happened.  Looking back at the time it seems that most of the live commentaries on TV and Radio were that the decision not to send off Dean Henderson was the correct one but by half time the narrative had changed to he\u2019d been very lucky.  In the ground I don\u2019t think it was such a big story at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly afterwards City are awarded a penalty, some debate over whether it was or wasn\u2019t, debate over the choice of taker, debate over whether the keeper should have been on the pitch to face it.  But for me what is being missed is just how good a save it was.  Marmoush\u2019s penalty was a decent penalty, hit with power and would have gone into the corner of the goal, the kind of penalty that goes in 9 times out of 10.  In the moments before the kick Sam is next to me facing the other way, I\u2019m sat down for the only time during the game just staring laser focussed at the ball.  I\u2019m not sure what I was trying to achieve but half a second later a huge cheer as the ball is saved followed by an even bigger one when the rebound is gathered.  I think it was bigger than for the goal.  Half time soon comes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concourse is where the Wifi works and what happened is analysed.  I\u2019m having this conversation with two people I\u2019ve never met before and I wouldn\u2019t be able to pick them out of a line now.  But we\u2019re all focussed on what happens next.  We have 45 minutes to go.  We\u2019ll need another goal. We\u2019ll need the next goal. I believe I mention that it\u2019s the longest we\u2019ve ever led in an FA Cup final. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The half starts and the talk is how the next 45 might feel more like 450 but apart from a few crosses across the box very early on the time ticks away steadily.  The big moment of the second half comes on about the hour mark I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long throw into the box, a ball bouncing around and Daniel Munoz nips in and puts us two goals up.  I believe the common parlance is \u201cLIMBS!\u201d.  The noise is deafening and its pandemonium in the crowd, people are hugging seemingly everyone in a 5m radius and more.  I\u2019m sure it logistically isn\u2019t possible but it felt that way.  Before I can even remind myself how much I hate leading 2-0 at times there are notifications going round that it\u2019s offside.  We\u2019d resigned ourselves to it at least 30 seconds before an official announcement.  For a glorious minute it was 2-0 but it\u2019s only 1-0 and also our captain is leaving the field injured.  This is the antithesis of the penalty save moment when we\u2019ve gone from 1-1 in our heads to retaining the lead.  In hindsight that goal not counting might have been a good thing \u2013 City might have thrown the kitchen sink at us at that point and our players may have let their levels drop a notch.  A goal to make it 2-1 would have given them all the momentum.  The game continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I comment to Sam to my right that we\u2019re only 20 minutes away and I think my nerves really start to kick in at that point.  When JP Mateta leaves the field, I leave the stand.  I just need a couple of minutes to calm myself.  Steadily the time ticks on and as Adam Wharton is helped off \u201cit\u2019ll be 6 minutes if we\u2019re lucky but I reckon more like 8\u201d I say to someone \u2013 might have been Robbie, might have been Sam, might have been to no-one in particular.  I\u2019m pretty sure it was out loud at least. I get a text from Kathryn saying it\u2019s 10 minutes about a minute before the board goes up in the stadium.  I\u2019ve already internally groaned before the massively audible groan takes over.  This is where I have to make a confession.  On 92 minutes I left the stand again, my mouth was so dry I needed something to drink.  I wandered along the concourse in no sort of a rush listening to the noise from the crowd and getting texts from Kathryn telling me to remember to breathe and with updates on the time remaining.  Apparently, Dean was time wasting a little, surprised Pep didn\u2019t mention it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There must be 100 like-minded souls on that concourse.  All ashen faced looking more scared than hopeful.  Older fans staring blankly ahead, father\u2019s trying to calm children while internally probably at least as emotional.  I find the drinking water; some fan is making it his job to just repeatedly fill cups and hand them to people. I drink in very small sips a sI walk back to my entrance.  \u201c90 secs\u201d left says the text. I want to go back in but imagine it goes wrong now; I would be selfish to risk ruining it for everyone inside. \u201c60\u201d follows. A loud roar from our end, not a goal but it\u2019s good news I think to myself.  I\u2019m at the gate just out of sight of the pitch and someone sees me and gives me a thumbs up and beckons me in. \u201c30, they missed\u201d comes the slightly delayed text. And with that I hear the whistle.  I\u2019m back in my seat seconds later \u2013 everyone is hugging and cheering.  But this is different to a goal.  This isn\u2019t that.  The energy isn\u2019t the same.  Equally it\u2019s not the same as when you\u2019ve just taken 3 points in a tight game.  This is relief but combined with jubilation combined with disbelief.  It’s not a feeling I think I\u2019ve ever experienced.  In fact, possibly not an experience any of those Palace fans every have.   The City fans \u2013 probably not since \u201cAguerrooooooooo\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s over.  We\u2019ve won the Football Association Challenge Cup.  Ok it\u2019s the FA Cup but I like giving it the full title.  We have won the most prestigious cup competition in the world and nothing UEFA or FIFA have to offer will convince me otherwise.  Six wins. One goal conceded. Several head injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We watch the players collapse to the ground probably in a similar mind set to us at that point.  The celebrations continue.  Player\u2019s songs are sung.  Cups are lifted. That\u2019s not unusual but what is different is the sheer level of emotion – so many in tears. Some immediately, some later.  But by the time we left an hour after full time, I don\u2019t think anyone in the Palace end hadn\u2019t cried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get accosted on the concourse with a big hug I don\u2019t see coming – it\u2019s Alex again clearly looking for more friends to share the moment with.  Outside the ground some people are heading away, some are looking dazed and some just aren\u2019t quite ready to leave and move on with the rest of their life.  They just wanted to stay in that moment a little longer.  We bump into Rob outside \u2013 we embrace and agree to disagree on the whole jinxing thing once more. I forgive him for trying to tempt the fates while knowing he doesn\u2019t care a jot and thinks I\u2019m a bit mental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We returned to the Jackalope \u2013 I should\u2019ve gone home\u2014but I needed a bit more time among friends.  We keep joking about the fact that we\u2019re no longer a team who hasn\u2019t won anything.  All those daydreams I tried to push to the back of my head 8 hours earlier can now be freely discussed.  I feel content that it\u2019s my time once Mark has been persuaded to finish his Tequila shot that he clearly didn\u2019t really want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the journey back I think of a lot of things but family is a big one.  Grateful that my own family let me do this and understand how much it means to me but also the wider Palace family.  I love that these people have embraced a glass half empty Welshman as one of their own.  I lucked in to picking a team back when I was a child that have turned out to be the best fan bases in the country and these two Wembley games have proven that in spades.   Being a Palace fan is an honour. A privilege. And while I\u2019ve only ever been to there for football\u2014I am, without question, South London and Proud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I didn\u2019t write anything after the semi-final because it wasn\u2019t the end of the story.  I didn\u2019t write anything in 2016 because I wanted to forget the day ever happened.  I wanted to write something now because I want to help set those memories in stone forever. I set the 2016 final to record and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dave","category-days-out"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":534,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions\/534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidandkathryn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}