Crystal Palace

Alex Pewter
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

With Crystal Palace fans still basking in the glow of FA Cup glory, the question of what comes next looms for the south London club.

On the pitch, Oliver Glasner has delivered cohesive performances juxtaposed with lingering uncertainty at boardroom level.

That primarily stems from the 'will he, won't he' saga of John Textor and Eagle Football Holdings in his contrasting efforts to either sell his estimated 43% stake in the club or to purchase a working majority from the other shareholders.

Fan sentiment certainly leans towards the former happening and cutting ties with this multi-club model, especially with the possible Uefa implications of having two 'Textor' or Eagle-owned clubs playing in the Europa League next season.

With a summer that demands unified investment and planning - be that in new players or funding the development of the stadium - having contrasting visions and priorities from the directors would be something ideally solved in a quick fashion.

The club does have books to balance, despite the anticipated added income from Europe. While we can expect some sales will have to be made, Palace are in the strongest position to negotiate with their current stars.

Securing the future of a player such as Jean-Philippe Mateta and paying him at his market rate would be a luxury only extended to a club with European football to offer - and should be something the Eagles are targeting before pre-season.

The backbone of the team's success has been attributed to the spirit within the camp. While all sides may lose players along the way, retaining the team's identity as they head into a historic season is key.

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Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

As the dust settles on the 2024-25 Premier League season, we have been taking a look at some of the alternative ways the the table could have finished...

Football games are 90 minutes long. They have been for more than 150 years.

So, what if they weren't? What if only the first 45 minutes mattered?

Some teams like to lead from the front, come out the blocks flying and try and get the job done before half-time.

If that had been the case this season and it all came down to that first half showing, then it would not have been Liverpool lifting the trophy, but in fact Arsenal winning their first league title in over 20 years.

With 20 wins, 13 draws and five defeats, the Gunners were the kings of the first half.

Four points behind them were Manchester City - a team that has for so long been able to control games from start to finish, but during their difficult spell with injuries and results, this was something they seemed to lack.

If the league really came down to this metric, Brentford fans would be planning for a Champions League adventure. While the Bees were fast starters this campaign, being able to back that up across the 90 minutes was their Achilles heel (ranking 14th in the second half).

And what about this year's Premier League champions? Arsenal may have had the number when it came to first halves, but Liverpool well and truly led the way in the second...

What if the season was all about the second 45 minutes?

While some prefer to get their nose in front, others prefer a half-time reset or back themselves to get the job done later in the game.

One of those teams was Arne Slot's Reds.

They won 24 of their 38 second-halves, drew nine and lost just five. If it was this 45 minutes alone that counted, they would have had 81 points and - just like in the actual season - been runaway winners.

Another club that enjoyed success after half time was Chelsea.

Ranking seventh in the first-half table, the Blues were often in a position where they needed to turn things around or dig out a result in the second 45 and, despite the young age of the team, managed 17 wins in second halves.

A side deserving an honourable mention here is Crystal Palace.

They may have finished 12th in the 2024-25 league table after a underwhelming start, but when it came to getting a result in the second half, with 16 wins,12 draws and 10 defeats, they were up there alongside some of the best in the league.

*Table data from Football365

Crystal Palace's French forward Jean-Philippe Mateta, 27, is on Manchester United's striker shortlist, but they may face competition from Juventus and AC Milan. (Teamtalk), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

BBC Sport pundit Nedum Onuoha has given us his insight and opinion every fortnight on your Premier League club throughout this season.

But this week, he's in the hotseat for your questions.

Maybe ask him who should be on your club's radar this summer, or where a rumoured target or new signing might fit into the team.

Perhaps see what he thinks about how successful a new recruit might be, who it is vital to keep, or what is needed to make next season a success.

Send in your questions here and we'll put a selection to him

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Sport football news reporter Alex Howell has been answering your questions on the summer transfer window.

Alex asked: With clubs circling, release clauses, and contracts running down, what are the chances of Crystal Palace keeping the squad together for our first European adventure?

Alex answered: The ideal for everyone at Palace and particularly supporters is that they keep hold of all of the key components of their team.

However, as Palace supporters know, that is not how football works.

According to sources, Eberechi Eze's release clause kicks back in this summer and Marc Guehi enters his final year.

Those scenarios take a level of control away from Palace but having European football definitely helps when looking to persuade a player to stay.

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for you to tell us what Crystal Palace need to do in the summer transfer window.

Here are some of your comments:

Gary: I would sell Guehi but only to raise funds to bring players with European experience. We need cover for Mitchell and Munoz - they can't play every game (they played 40-plus last season). Also, a third striker and another attacking midfielder. Important to keep this squad together.

Rufus: If Eze and Guehi are to leave, we need to get them out early so we can find proper replacements. If the rumours are true that Eze is being offered a new contract then that would be fantastic, but we have to make a decision with Guehi. Do we want to sell him now or lose him on a free later to help with our European quest? If he does leave, 2two CBs are needed (Odilon Kossounou and Trevoh Chalobah would be my personal favourite picks) while LWB cover is desperately needed (either El Hadji Malick Diouf from Slavia Prague or potentially Ben Chilwell on a permanent for that one).

Alan: Unfortunately, Eze and Guehi will probably go. Guehi is maybe easier to replace - could Chalobah return permanently this time? He doesn't appear to be first choice at Chelsea and already knows our system. On that point, perhaps Chilwell will sign another loan, as we probably can't afford his full salary. An Eze replacement is more tricky, maybe it's to early for Esse or Franc to step up. But if Eze and Guehi go, we will have £100m to spend.

Jon: We need to keep as many of our star players as we can. With such a great season and our first major trophy under our belt, it would feel like a massive backwards step if we lost some of the spine of our team. It's a chance for us to build something special, so we need the players to buy into the vision. The best way to do that might be to make a marquee signing of our own, early in the window for once, to signal our intent.

Paul: We need to nail down what we have first. Adam Wharton needs an improved contract but with a £100m-plus release clause. We need to get Mateta to sign new terms and, most importantly, persuade Marc Guehi to lead us into Europe. Then we need to offload Edouard and Rak-Sakhi. Number one target for me? Jobe Bellingham.

Thank you for the feedback you submitted on the Premier League club pages.

Our aim is to contain all of the BBC's in-depth coverage of that team in one place, so it is helpful to hear from you - you are who the pages are for after all.

We are going through all your responses and will take suggestions on board for next season.

As the dust settles on this Premier League campaign, we asked former England international Fara Williams for her underrated XI for the season.

She selected three players who have represented Crystal Palace this year.

Dean Henderson

I've gone for Dean Henderson as the goalkeeper in my underrated XI because he capped a quietly reliable season with a standout performance in Crystal Palace's historic FA Cup win.

During several loads from boyhood club Manchester United, it has taken time for Henderson to find a home. He impressed at Sheffield United but struggled slightly at Nottingham Forest as he moved out of the shadow of Old Trafford.

He was not a guaranteed started for Palace after making the permanent move in 2023 but this season has truly stepped up and been a solid presence behind a defence that has grown in stature and confidence as the season went on.

Daniel Munoz

I have been extremely impressed by Munoz this season. His energy and fitness levels to get up and down that right hand side is extraordinary.

He not only has the intelligence to get himself into space in attacking positions and the quality to deliver dangerous crosses and shots at goal, but the engine to recover and get back to not leave his fellow defenders exposed.

A very powerful runner and impressive performer.

Trevoh Chalobah

A player who could only help Palace in the first half of the season before he was recalled to Chelsea, but a consistent performer all season who dealt admirably with difficult scenarios and an uncertain future to earn a call-up for Thomas Tuchel's post-season England squad.

He could have shut off when deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea, or when they recalled him mid-season, but he worked hard, delivered seven or eight out of 10 performances every week, and deserves his chance at international level.

He is maybe not your modern day centre-back who steps into the play but he defends solidly and wins his duels.

Fara Williams was speaking to BBC Sport's Nat Hayward

Image source, Getty Images

The transfer window opens on Sunday - albeit for 10 days initially, mainly so sides competing in the Club World Cup can get early business done - before reopening for the rest of the summer on 16 June.

Are there certain players you are desperate for Crystal Palace to sign, or an area of the squad that needs improving? Or maybe holding on to a key player is your biggest priority. And what about sales - who needs to go?

So over to you... what names need bringing in and shipping out?

Let us know here

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Crystal Palace wing-back Daniel Munoz ranked second in distance covered (242 miles) last season and he also made the most sprints in the Premier League with 907.

Bryan Mbeumo and Milos Kerkez also rank highly, just behind Fulham's American speedster Antonee Robinson.

Newcastle's Anthony Gordon completes the top five.

While Gordon ranked fifth for sprints overall across the season, he sprinted more often than any other player, averaging 29 sprints per 90 minutes.

What's in a name? Well if the name's Anthony (or Antonee) then it is sprinting, with Gordon, Elanga and Robinson all in the top five.

Munoz is here again, coming in at fourth, behind Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson.

Image source, Getty Images

The BBC's Ask Me Anything team have done all of the research ahead of the announcement detailing next season's Premier League matches.

The fixtures for the 2025-26 season will be released at 09:00 BST on Wednesday, 18 June 2025 and the release will include the weekly schedule of all 380 matches.

The season will begin with a single fixture played on Friday, 15 August 2025 and conclude on Sunday, 24 May 2026, when all matches will be played at 16:00 BST. There will be 33 weekend rounds of fixtures, plus five midweek rounds.

The exact date and time at which individual matches are played during each weekend will be determined at regular intervals throughout the season, based on TV selections made by broadcasters.

Read the full article here

Newcastle are ready to make their first moves in a crucial summer, with a bid for Crystal Palace and England defender Marc Guehi, 24. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

A first major trophy lifted with victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley. This will be the season that supporters can point to as when things changed for Crystal Palace.

The start of the campaign was tough and it took Palace until October to win their first Premier League match, but hardly anyone will think about that when looking back on this campaign.

Palace did the double over their rivals Brighton, beat Millwall in the FA Cup on the way to lifting the trophy and are now set for their first season in Europe.

Oliver Glasner has continued to build his reputation as an exciting manager in the league and his 3-4-2-1 system has become synonymous with how the Eagles play.

Jean-Philippe Mateta, Ismailia Sarr and Eberechi Eze will go down as one of the Eagles' most exciting forward lines in recent memory.

And Eze has cemented himself in Crystal Palace history as the scorer of the goal that brought them their first piece of major silverware.

We asked you to select your Crystal Palace player of the season from the four candidates chosen by our fan contributor.

And with the poll now closed, we can reveal the winner is...Daniel Munoz!

Here's what Alex Pewter from FYP podcast, external said about him:

Crystal Palace's marathon man, tirelessly covering the length of the right flank from wing-back. No player makes this formation function more than Munoz.

A two-way player, he is not only the leading tackler but the fourth highest scorer in all competitions, with an FA Cup final assist.

See the final poll breakdown

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Newcastle's Bruno Guimaraes covered the most ground this season, running 261 miles (St James' Park to Wembley is 271 miles).

He retains the award after racking up 263 miles in the competition last season.

Josko Gvardiol, Daniel Munoz, Bryan Mbeumo and Milos Kerkez complete the top five for most distance covered across the Premier League season.

Taking time on the pitch into account (out of players that played over half the available minutes), Guimaraes was pipped by Newcastle team-mate in the list by team-mate Sandro Tonali who covered more ground per 90 minutes than the Brazilian…although Bruno still ran 7.2 miles per 90 minutes!

Tottenham's Dejan Kulusevski ran harder than any other player this season, covering 7.7 miles per 90 minutes on average.

West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek ran an average of 7.5 miles per 90 minutes, while Manchester City's Bernardo Silva (7.3) and Brighton's Yasin Ayari complete the top five.

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Bournemouth and Tottenham were the most physical teams in the Premier League this season when considering the distance they covered and the number of sprints performed.

The results might explain why they had a lot of injuries.

Newcastle and Brighton were not too far behind though, with Brighton actually covering the most ground in the league, with fewer sprints.

Chelsea and Liverpool's style of play saw them sprint a lot but not cover a lot of ground, while Manchester City and Arsenal were the opposite (ran a lot but didn't sprint a lot).

Nottingham Forest very much had their own style of play this season as they both ran and sprinted the least.

Alex Pewter
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Season rating: 10/10. Winning the FA Cup felt like an unattainable, lifelong goal for fans, and the team delivered that. That would have overridden any failures in the league, but the squad rallied well to finish the season.

Happy with your manager? Absolutely. The FA Cup win alone makes Oliver Glasner one of the greatest managers in the club's history. The squad's mentality has shifted from survival first to the pursuit of success, and it is clear that he wants more.

The 12th-place finish in the league, despite a club record points tally, was still below his standards, courtesy of the slow start. A big summer is ahead, and there is a sense that Glasner can take this team as far as the board is willing or able to back him in the transfer market.

Unsung hero: Chris Richards. Nobody expected Trevoh Chalobah's loan to be terminated early so that he could return to Chelsea in January. This could have been unsettling to the team but, if anything, the back trio has been more resilient since Richards took over the right centre-back role.

Player you would most like to sign: Logical hat on, attempting to get Ben Chilwell back on loan would simplify the summer's transfer tasks.

With European competition ahead for Palace, they desperately need wing-back depth. Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz played over 40 matches, which feels like an unsustainable workload. Chilwell is already settled into the squad and system. Signing him permanently would be beyond the club's finances, but Chelsea will still seek to offload him in any form.

Right now, my overriding emotion from the season is: There is still a sense of shock and disbelief about how this season ended. Winning the cup, the parade at Selhurst Park, the prospect of European games. It feels alien, but it is something we could get used to.

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Image source, Getty Images

Here's my quick assessment of Crystal Palace's Premier League season - and a return to my August predictions.

Ended the season: 12th

Pre-season prediction: 10th

A historic season at Crystal Palace under Oliver Glasner as they won the FA Cup, the first major trophy in their history. That was after a nightmare start, with their first victory not coming until their ninth Premier League game.

Exciting in attack with Eberechi Eze, Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta, solid in defence with Marc Guehi, and with the outstanding Adam Wharton in midfield, Palace have been such a good watch.

The FA Cup was a deserved reward for great fans. Glasner has proved an inspired appointment and if they keep this team together, it is onwards and upwards for the Eagles.

What I said in August: "Glasner's all-out attacking approach has every chance of making it another entertaining, enjoyable season at Selhurst Park."

Read my assessments of the other 19 teams here

We asked you to send in your pictures from Crystal Palace's FA Cup victory parade and party at Selhurst Park.

Here are some of your images:

Have any photos you would like to share, including from the stadium event? Send them in here

Follow rolling coverage here