Palace fan power proves supporters can make their voices heard

1:00pm Thursday 10th June 2010

By James Daly

Never underestimate fan power. A line often used but rarely appreciated amongst the footballing world, where it's is generally accepted that clubs dictate and supporters follow like some desperate boyfriend, doing whatever they are told.

With football such a passionate and popular pastime, clubs have been regularly taking advantage of their customers, and the majority of fans have been more than willing to part with £40 for a replica shirt, £50 for a match day ticket and even more just for the opportunity to meet the players who happen to be turning out for their team at that time.

In fact, it can probably be argued that football fans are the most loyal in the world. It's a sport that thrives on the love that its supporters embody for their chosen club, but when that obsession is threatened to be taken away, football fans suddenly become unexpectedly proactive.

In that sense they are quite evolved, and a world away from the sycophantic people who do anything the club tells them. If someone takes candy away from a baby it will cry, but take it away from an adult and he'll push you around until he gets it back.

This is no more evident than at my club Crystal Palace. For months the club has been in administration and fans have sat by and watched events unfold if not keenly, at least closely: star striker Victor Moses moving to Wigan, popular manager Neil Warnock leaving for QPR, 29 staff being sacked. But when crunch came to crunch Palace fans acted.

Two protests were organised in a matter of days - one at Selhurst Park and one at the headquarters of Lloyds, who owned the ground via administration. And they weren't damp squib protests, they were passionate, noisy unavoidable protests. Naturally Sky Sports lapped it up but it would have been difficult to ignore the Palace fans even without your TV on.

Bankers at Lloyds tweeted and told friends they were unable to work because of the noise, and visitors to the city of London couldn't avoid the sea of red and blue that marched over London Bridge.

Hyperspace went red and blue, with Twitter overloaded with messages of support for the club, a huge chunk coming from fans of other clubs. The tag #saveCPFC became the number one UK trending topic at points throughout the day, trumping Fabio Capello's England squad announcement.

Former players, celebrities and MPs were all caught up in it, and for a glorious afternoon everything was about Palace. Yes, it was for the wrong reasons, but the world was listening.

A petition organised on the same day of the deadline for a deal to be made reached 10,000 signatures in a matter of hours.

Of course, fans didn't make it inside the boardroom where a deal between the CPFC 2010 consortium looking to reunite the club and ground (who were under different administrators) and Lloyds was being thrashed out, but the waves of their passion almost certainly wafted in. A deal to save the club looks to have been made, and outside in Leicester Square fans celebrated, some gathered at Selhurst and embraced each other, and thousands around the world punched their desks in jubilation.

Emotions run high during football, that's pretty much one of the reasons we turn up each week, but they run far, far deeper than just at the grounds, and Palace fans' activities last week are evident of that. They might not have had a say in the corridors of power, but they weren't going to let their club sink without making themselves heard.

Naturally, we will all go back to shelling out loads of notes for red and blue shirts and tickets to watch abject second-tier football, but despite all that and after the last week I will be most content when I'm back to Selhurst hearing people moan about another sliced shot high into the Holmesdale Road stand.

Football fans are routinely written off as mindless, spineless morons, but take away the one thing they all love, and you've created a monster.