Over the years, Crystal Palace have employed many players who’ve divided the Selhurst Park faithful, to say the least.
For every fan who loves Christian Benteke’s aerial prowess, there’s one who moans at him for not pressing the opposition enough.
For every supporter who adores Wilfried Zaha’s tricks, there’ll be a few who want him to ‘stop messing around’ with it, and so on.
However, there are some cult heroes who simply don’t deserve any abuse, given what they done for the club.
Let’s take a look at three Eagles icons who deserve a bit more respect…
Glenn Murray
Admittedly, you might be thinking: “Everyone loves Glenn Murray, why is he on this list?”
Well, there are a few fans who hold a dislike towards the 37-year-old due to his affiliation with arch-rivals Brighton – you can see a couple of them below.
Of course, playing for the Seagulls isn’t ideal, but you simply cannot discredit what Murray achieved in SE25.
He helped Palace into the Premier League with a remarkable 30-goal campaign in 2012/13, and then went on a brilliant run in 2014/15 to help secure survival.
Murray bagged six goals and three assists in seven games at one point during the 2014/15 season under Alan Pardew, before he was inexplicably sold.
You simply can’t dislike the forward, who was key in helping Palace to where they are now.
Marouane Chamakh
Now, this one is more aimed at other fanbases, rather than Crystal Palace’s.
After he became a laughing stock at Arsenal, many cannot fathom how a set of supporters would go on to idolise the Moroccan.
In a strange way, that’s what made his spell at Palace so successful.
The Eagles had plenty to prove having surprisingly earned promotion in 2013, while Chamakh also had plenty to prove after being branded a flop in north London.
Together, Palace and their mocked No.29 battled against the odds to secure Premier League survival, during a campaign in which Chamakh scored a respectable five goals.
Goals aside, it was his quality in possession that wowed supporters. Playing as a No.10 behind Cameron Jerome, Chamakh wowed fans with his silky touches, while his work rate also endeared him to the south Londoners.
Damien Delaney
Now, even we were guilty of disrespecting the Irishman.
After winning the Play-Off final, we felt the first thing Palace should’ve done was find a replacement for the ageing centre-back – how wrong we were.
Delaney went on to make 138 Premier League appearances, showing passion and leadership every time he stepped out onto the pitch.
He was largely disrespected, however, due to his lack of ability on the ball.
Quite often, fans complained about his tendency to hoof the ball long, and felt he was holding the team back in doing so.
However, that can easily be put aside following his years of committed service to the club.
After all, the man cried on the steps of Wembley after promotion was secured – how can you disrespect that?!
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