Ian Wright was off crutches for the first time in months, leg out of plaster, closing in on a return.
The young, brilliantly raw striker had gone from Sunday League obscurity to become the Crystal Palace talisman on the verge of the England team. But he wasn’t, quite, going to be ready.
It was days before the 1990 FA Cup final. Palace had never been in one before and who knew if they would reach one again?
Manager Steve Coppell was desperate for ideas — then it came to him.
At the recommendation of legendary manager Lawrie McMenemy, he’d sent forward Mark Bright to a faith healer for a persistent hamstring injury. Why not give it a go?
Sceptical Wright visited “this lovely old lady” in Hartley Wintney, Coppell recalls. The striker returned unconvinced. But whether by sheer chance or some unearthly phenomenon, his magic would light up the final.
Ahead of only the club’s third FA Cup final, Coppell and assistant Alan Smith got together with The i Paper, not far from the club’s old Mitcham training ground, to tell the story of a significant moment in Crystal Palace history.
But before we get to the final, it’s useful to establish where Palace were in their evolutionary timeline.
‘A hell of a journey’
Coppell won trophies as a Manchester United winger but when, in 1984, his career was cut short by a shattered knee, he leapt into management aged only 28 at Palace – bottom of the second tier and with barely any money.
“It’s a hell of a journey looking back now,” he says.
They identified non-league as an untapped reserve, leaned on the expertise of Billy Smith, a local who worked in the flower markets and coached several non-league sides.
“He was a lovely bloke, died not so long back,” Coppell says. “His knowledge of the non-league scene was outstanding.”
One day, Billy was at the training ground having a cup of tea when he mentioned a little kid he’d spotted. Coppell asked how old he was. 21, Billy replied.
“Bill, I’ve heard it all before,” Coppell said, thinking that was too old. “The scouting networks are so sophisticated no one slips through the net.”
But Billy insisted, so they dispatched Peter Prentice, in charge of the youth teams, to watch, then invited Wright for three days’ training.
“I always remember at the end of three days I phoned Ron Noades, the owner,” Coppell recalls, “and said, ‘This is gonna sound stupid but this kid’s got the ability to play for England.’”
‘A laughing stock’
Wright was great with both feet, quick, good in the air. Early on he was booked a lot for smashing into centre-halves and was a frequent substitute, but Bright signed and helped smooth rough edges.
Coppell compares putting the team together to assembling puzzle pieces. “Ian was a massive part of our success. But it wasn’t just Ian Wright and 10 others.”
Alan Pardew, Andy Gray, Phil Barber – who all started the final – and Tony Finegan came from non-league.
Coppell pieced together promotion in five years. Still, they were given a reality check when they were thrashed 9-0 by Liverpool in October of the first season back in the top flight. “We were a laughing stock,” Coppell says.
It was, however, the catalyst for the FA Cup run, sparking accelerated investment. Nigel Martyn signed as the first £1m goalkeeper. Andy Thorn – “one of the cleverest defenders around” – joined him.
They drew Liverpool in the semis. Liverpool who had beaten them 11-0 on aggregate in the league. Liverpool on the way to a sixth league title of the decade.
“We all had to say, ‘Ah great, we can’t wait to play them, redemption time!’”, Coppell says. “Internally we’re going: Shit, what’s going to happen?”
Wright injured, it forced Coppell to think differently. From 4-4-2 he switched to 4-5-1. “Our first job was to stop them playing. We had young, athletic players so we went man-for-man.”
Fitness was a standout feature of that side.
“We can take you to a hill not far away from here,” Coppell says, smiling.
Alan Smith takes over the story. “I remember Steve the day after the 9-0 saying, we might not have the best players, but we’ve got to be the fittest and we’ve got to be the most organised. Fitness and set pieces.”
They started taking the team to a giant slope at Farthing Downs, four miles from the training ground.
“It’s like a ski slope,” Coppell says. “Must be 100 yards. It’s literally like that” – he holds his hand at a 45-degree angle.
They’d visit once a week. Coppell drove his car. The players fought over who got to travel with him. The rest went in a mini van with Smith. “It always seemed to be pissing with rain and cold and wet,” Smith recalls.
“On the way back there was a little green cafe, we’d all huddle in and have a bacon roll and a cup of tea,” Smith says. “It was brilliant. You do that hill and then have a bacon sandwich, with people who came out the non-league, or the youth system, it drew everyone together.”
Coppell nods. “There were no precious players. And they had a point to prove. They were all hungry. They embraced what we were doing, and as far as we were concerned, we were fighting the world.”
They were 1-0 down at half-time of the semi-final before coming back to beat Liverpool 4-3 in an FA Cup all-time classic.
Not one for celebrating, Coppell slipped off to the changing room and hopped in the giant bath. Smith joined him and it started to sink in.
“What the bloody hell have we done now?” Coppell said, turning to Smith.
“Palace hadn’t been to a final before,” Smith adds. “Steve had done it at Manchester United as a player, but most involved hadn’t.”
Out of the bath and into the boiling pot. Six weeks to Palace’s first ever cup final. Against Manchester United.
It was a glorious, stressful, blur of a time. The Wright dilemma, the faith healer. “We were literally trying anything to get him fit,” Coppell says.
Without Wright, who had only managed one training session running in straight lines, Coppell returned to the Liverpool gameplan.
“It was a huge gamble even to name him as sub,” Coppell says. But “knowing we had the bomb on the bench” was significant.
The final(s)
In 1990, this wasn’t the Manchester United they would become, of course. But they were the semblance of that new era. Many believed Sir Alex Ferguson was close to the sack before the FA Cup became the first of his 38 trophies.
It’s widely agreed that had United lost to Nottingham Forest in the third round, Ferguson was gone. But Palace had gone to Old Trafford a week before that tie and nudged Ferguson towards the edge.
“Fergie as always, courteous, ‘come in, have a drink’,” Coppell says. “When we were in there having a drink he’s looking down at the floor. For little, newly promoted Palace to come along and win, he was very deflated.
“He’d been there three-and-a-half years, he’d spent in today’s money what would’ve been a fortune – Chelsea-esque expenditure.
“Because of the atmosphere we didn’t hang around. I got back on the bus and said to somebody, ‘Dead man walking there.’”
It was another blow to Ferguson when Palace took an early lead at Wembley through Gary O’Reilly, but just after the hour United led through Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes – superstars of the era.
Then, in the 69th minute, the bomb exploded from the bench. “He was like a spring,” Smith says. “This bundle of electricity and life.”
Wright levelled three minutes later, put Palace back in front in extra time, only for Hughes to level again, sending the game to a replay, five days later.
After a celebratory evening of banquet and drinks, Coppell weighed up whether to risk Wright, who managed two more training sessions, or keep it compact. Ferguson made a huge call switching his goalkeeper, Jim Leighton. “The decision that won him the cup,” Coppell believes.
Wright on the bench, Palace fell to a one-goal defeat.
“Looking back now I wished I’d started him in the replay,” Coppell admits. “It was the ultimate damp squib. Nothing happened. They scored through a defensive lapse.
“Fergie portrayed it as us trying to kick them off the field. There were a couple of dodgy fouls. Why on earth would we do that when we matched them in a 3-3? That was illogical, but that was his interpretation. It was just a horrible game.
“If Ian had started, would it have been different? It would have been a completely different game. And a hell of a gamble.
“There was no guarantee he’d last. We went with the same scenario. In hindsight, I would’ve done it differently.”
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It was, paradoxically, a springboard for one of the club’s greatest seasons and the team’s unravelling. The following season they finished third – Palace’s highest finish. And won the Full Members’ Cup – considered a major trophy back then.
But it opened Wright’s eyes to life elsewhere and that summer he asked to leave. “That was the beginning of the end of that team,” Coppell says.
There is, in some ways, a familiar feel to this modern Oliver Glasner side. Fit, organised, possessing exciting, gifted players: Eberechi Eze, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Adam Wharton, Marc Guehi.
“It’s a team you look at and they’re capable of beating anybody,” Coppell says. “They have a hell of a chance.”
After Coppell’s final, Pardew returned as manager and in 2016, he was 12 minutes away from lifting the trophy before Juan Mata equalised for Manchester United and Jesse Lingard scored the winner in extra time.
What would it mean to win one?
“Winning an FA Cup final is the Holy Grail. Most Palace fans remember the two cup finals, us hitting the post and the ball coming out. It’s time to hit the post and go in.”
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