Steve Parish interview: Crystal Palace chairman on FA Cup semi-final win, ‘outstanding’ fans and picks out special mention for midfielder

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Steve Parish has praised the efforts of the Crystal Palace fans for helping his side, led by manager Oliver Glasner, qualify through to just their third FA Cup Final in history.

A 3-0 win against Aston Villa on Saturday in the semi-final set up a date with Manchester City in the final and Eagles fan and co-owner Parish was quick to acknowledge the dominant support from South London.

“I came on the tube and it was just amazing being amongst them. They were extraordinary today and they’ve been extraordinary since I’ve been in,” said Parish.

“We’ve had very few moments where they’ve kind of doubted what we’re doing – you have your little moments where people have different opinions – but clubs our size don’t work unless everybody is pointing the same way and moving in the same direction.

“Everybody has said to me today – all the neutrals, the Villa people – about the fans. Every single person. This isn’t something we just trot out, or we just say. The Palace fans were outstanding, and in the end, that’s what pulled us through. It was a carnival atmosphere, and we create that.

“I was actually doing market research at the end (of the final), because the Club Wembley (corporate seats) bit in the middle is not in our (ticket) allocation. So, there’s 35,000+ Palace fans and there was an enormous amount that were Palace in Club Wembley. I also thought the Villa fans were great too. It was nice to have two teams where an FA Cup semi-final meant so much to both teams. “

On the pitch, Palace went up 1-0 through a sublime Ebere Eze strike, before winning a penalty which saw Jean-Philippe Mateta miss.

At this point, Villa sensed a chance back into the game, but some crucial saves from England goalkeeper Dean Henderson kept them at bay and the South Londoners were never in trouble again.

In the second half an Ismaila Sarr strike made the game safe, with the Senegal striker scoring a third for the Eagles late in second half stoppage time to secure the victory.

“The penalty miss was a real key moment, but if it wasn’t for the fans and the character of these guys, it could have turned at that point, but they didn’t miss a beat,” said Parish.

“The fans didn’t miss a beat. They lifted everybody, started singing and we know the character who JP is. He’ll shrug it off, he’s a striker who takes the shots.

“We used 15 players in the match. Ebz (Eze) – his goal was outstanding. Sarr was unbelievable. Maxence (Lacroix) was unbelievable. Chris Richards heads everything out the box and was really good. Tyrick (Mitchell) didn’t let anyone past him. They (Villa) moved the guy over to the other side because he couldn’t get any change out of him.

“Daichi (Kamada) needs a special mention too. It’s taken him a little bit of a while to get used to the style of football and the things that go on here. He was man of the match on Wednesday (against Arsenal in the Premier League), and I thought today he was absolutely outstanding. It was just an outstanding team performance.

“Today was a 50-50 game in my book. They (Villa) had a little bit of bad luck with losing Marcus (Rashford) because he’s been outstanding for them, so that turned in our favour a little bit.

“This team have created a winning mentality. That’s what the fans believe. We’re not just here for a day out. We’re here to win the game, get to the final, and who knows, maybe even win the final if we can and make history. Everybody’s a part of that.

“The fans believe. Oliver thinks he can win every game against anyone, and that’s how he approaches every game. The final won’t be much different. It’ll be small moments. It was very cagey this game at the beginning and it was those small moments (which decided it).”

The first time Crystal Palace made the final was back in 1990 with a team led by Steve Coppell and Alan Smith – both of whom were in attendance at Wembley on Saturday.

Despite losing to Manchester United in a final replay, the Eagles big upset of beating Liverpool in the semi-final at neutral venue Villa Park, after losing 9-0 to them in the league earlier in the season, remains a reference point for many Palace fans, not least Parish, who discussed it when asked about how Saturday compared to his previous experiences.

“The 1990 FA Cup semi-final was one of the greatest football matches I’ve ever seen in my life, probably, the like of which is very difficult now to replicate,” he said. “But, what I do think now is that 15 years in (to becoming part-owner of the club), I’m still just as nervous. I don’t know how I got through the last 20 minutes today. My heart was beating out. I was checking my Fitbit to see what my heart rate was but I couldn’t find it.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD