Darren Ambrose reflects on his Crystal Palace and Charlton careers – with new four-part podcast released

BY EDMUND BRACK
edmund@slpmedia.co.uk

The greatest moment in Darren Ambrose’s Crystal Palace career means he will likely never need to buy a pint if he is in SE25 again. But it could easily not have happened in quite such dramatic circumstances.

The Eagles were fighting to stay in the Championship after they had been plunged into administration in January 2010 and were deducted 10 points, killing off their play-off aspirations and leaving them in a scrap to avoid relegation.

The Eagles managed, largely down to Ambrose’s form in front of goal, to take their survival fight on the pitch to the final weeks of the campaign.

They went into the penultimate game against West Brom with a chance to avoid a final-day showdown against fellow relegation candidates Sheffield Wednesday. Six minutes into added time in the second half – with the scoreline at 1-1 and Paul Hart’s side reduced to 10 men after Neil Danns’ dismissal -Ambrose had an effort cleared off the line by Marek Cech.

It cued up the mother of all deciders at Hillsborough with the Eagles needing to avoid defeat.

Palace drew 2-2 to send the hosts down. Ambrose set up Alan Lee for the opener and scored the second past Lee Grant in the 63rd minute – his 20th goal of the campaign.

“It is the proudest moment of my Palace career, and probably the proudest moment of my whole career,” Ambrose told the South London Press. “It was such a pressurised game and situation.

“That feeling at Hillsborough was like a home game. There were thousands of fans who greeted the bus coming in. Not once did anyone mention relegation – the sole focus was getting the job done.

“Every now and then I see kids watching videos on YouTube of those particular moments and it makes me proud. I never won a trophy, but moments like that live with you forever.

“It’s well-documented there were periods when we weren’t getting paid on time and we took off in a plane for Newcastle in seventh and by the time we landed we were 19th. But you try and do a job for the club. We were kind of unaware of the financial troubles off the pitch – I don’t think many people knew what was happening behind the scenes.

“It ended up coming down to that final game. Who knows where the club would be if we didn’t get that point? I dread to think. But look at Palace now, they are absolutely flourishing. A lot of people put it down to that squad we had in 2010.

“I always felt that if we hadn’t been put in administration and had those points deducted then we would have made the play-offs.

“Although a big regret of mine was never being able to play in the Premier League for Palace, I wouldn’t have changed that season. It’s the best I have had.”

Ambrose has released a new four-part podcast – Not A Bad Effort – which is looking at the life of a former professional footballer.

Now 39, the former Ipswich midfielder joined Charlton in 2005 but suffered two relegations as they slipped from an established Premier League outfit to the devastation of being in League One.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the first two years under Alan Curbishley, Alan Pardew and Iain Dowie ,” said Ambrose, who made 127 appearances and had 27 goal contributions.

“Once we got relegated to the Championship, it’s always hard to win people back over. I had the opportunity to go to Fulham but I stayed because we had the best squad in the Championship – I felt we had a promotion on our hands.

“It didn’t work out, but I still enjoyed it. Charlton fans don’t dislike me. There are a certain number in all fanbases that dislike players, which is absolutely fine. I have a lot of friends who support Charlton and they thoroughly enjoyed me playing there.

“I knew when it was the right time to leave. When you get relegated, you’re always feeling a bit ashamed of yourself – that you have lost good people their jobs. It was a shame we didn’t get promoted in the first season because we have seen the decline.

“It’s frustrating because it’s a top club that should be in the Premier League. It’s a Premier League stadium and a Premier League fanbase.”

But if there were any worries from the Palace faithful about Ambrose crossing the South London divide, the then 25-year-old dismissed concerns when he scored a brace in a 2-1 EFL Cup first round win over Torquay in his first start.

“I wasn’t on any social media at the time, but you get sent certain things,” said Ambrose. “The reaction wasn’t brilliant that I was signing for Palace, especially coming from Charlton, where I’d had a poor season.

“I didn’t have any concerns, but my wife did. The rough season had just come to an end. I wasn’t in good form. Charlton had just been relegated.

“When I had the chance to go to Palace, my wife understood the rivalry and said: ‘Are you sure you want to go already on a negative view?’ I was confident in my own ability that I could win people over.

“I knew I wasn’t going to renew my contract at Charlton. The club was going down to League One and I was one of the players they had earmarked to get off the wage bill.

“The day after the season finished, Neil Warnock’s son, who was an agent for Palace, called me up and said: ‘My dad wants to talk with you’. I went straight in that day.

“Ben Watson, who had been the talisman, had just left. Neil said: ‘You’re going to be the main man here. You’re going to take every penalty, corner, throw-in – even every goal-kick, if you want. If you play poorly for me, you’re playing the next game. When you’re fit, you’re going to be playing’.

“I’d only played a handful of games for Charlton the season before and went on loan to Ipswich. So to hear that from Neil built my confidence instantly. I wanted to prove people wrong by showing that I do still have the talent to do it – I’ll win over the crowd.

“As soon as I spoke with Neil, there was only one place I was signing. The supporters took to me immediately and I had the best three years of my career at the club. Not just goalscoring and assist-wise, it’s the happiest I have been playing.”

He recorded 20 goals and 13 assists in 52 appearances, with his contributions in front of goal keeping the Eagles in the Championship and taking them to the fifth round of the FA Cup.

His best spell of the season came when he found the net in six consecutive Championship outings.

“That was the most confidence I have ever played with,” said Ambrose. “Six in six was ridiculous. I roomed with Freddie Sears and he would say to me: ‘You’re going to score again, aren’t you?’ It became funny. Sometimes I wouldn’t play well, but I would get one chance and score. That seemed to happen throughout the first season.

“Even with the assists, a poor pass or cross would bounce off someone’s head and they would score. I was going into games knowing I could express myself.  Especially under Neil, it wouldn’t matter if I was shooting from the halfway line – he wasn’t going to tell me off.

“I chatted to Shaun Derry and we were saying that there were a couple of players who Neil knew how to control and play best. I was one and Adel Taarabt was another.

“I played for one of the very best in Sir Bobby Robson. But there is no coincidence that I played my best stuff under Neil – because he made me feel wanted.

“I was gutted when he left for QPR. It’s no surprise that he’s still going strong today at Huddersfield.”

Along with the goal and assist at Hillsborough, Ambrose put together a highlight reel of strikes that are forever etched in Crystal Palace memory.

Long-range strikes in the cup competitions became somewhat of a speciality – the 37-yard thunderbolt against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the 2011-12 EFL Cup quarter-final the pick of the bunch.

“I love the goal,” said Ambrose. “It’s spoken about all the time by Palace fans, 12 years later, but the most disappointing thing is we didn’t get to the final that year.

“We lost to Cardiff in the semi-final. We had a huge opportunity to win. We should have got to the final. That lives with me, more than the Man United game.

“It was Liverpool in the final. Who knows? We could have stepped up and won a trophy for the club.”

Ambrose left Palace at the start of the 2012-13 campaign to join Birmingham City.

After retiring in 2016, Ambrose entered the media world and is a regular pundit for talkSPORT.

“I got lucky,” he said. “I went into coaching at Ipswich with the youth teams. I enjoyed it, but then my good friend Darren Bent had his show at talkSPORT.

“They asked him for guests and I went on. I had young kids, so everything on the TV was children’s shows. I fell behind with my  knowledge of the game for a bit. But as soon as I got the opportunity, it clicked.

“It wasn’t something that I was expecting. I feel as though I have gone from strength to strength. I love it.”

His podcast recorded more than 500 downloads in the UK and peaked at number 21 for UK football podcasts 48 hours after its launch.

“We wanted to gauge the reaction, and if it went well, we will do series two,” said Ambrose. “It’s started off fantastically well.

“I have got a few guests lined up for the next series, but it’s just stories about my career with Hugo and Joe (Carter) adding some comical stuff. It’s a few friends sitting around the desk and having a laugh.

“I have always said coming into the media that I will give an honest opinion. Some people won’t like it and others will, but that’s all I can be. I won’t say certain things just for reactions, and I said the same about the podcast.”