Football Daily | High-concept farewells and why football loyalty is in the eye of the beholder

8 hours ago 2

LEAVING DOS AND DON’TS

In the Selhurst Park stands on Tuesday, a celebration of Crystal Palace’s historic FA Cup win was awaited. It was duly delivered, after Eberechi Eze completed a 4-2 win over Wolves with one of those goals only he can score, all grace and precision, off-the-cuff football played with south London swing. To the final whistle then, and a chance for the FA Cup to be run round Selhurst, hopefully with a bit more care than when Graeme Souness and Liverpool chums were lobbing around the old Football League Championship trophy like they were Orrell back-row forwards. The silverware took a while to arrive but when it did, it was in the arms of Joel Ward, making his final appearance as a Palace player, his 364th game. So long, Joel, and thanks for all the fish.

But instead of another FA Cup beano, a club that had waited 101 years to win anything, give or take the ZDS Cup, launched a celebration of … Joel Ward. You know, Joel Ward, played 364 times for Crystal Palace, defender bloke, been there 13 years. Chairman Steve Parish was beside himself, wiping a tear when the player was subbed off in the 71st minute. “You’ve been a rock star,” he sobbed. Now, not even his better half, at pitch-side holding their baby, born just last Thursday, can believe Joel Ward, a man who has, beyond Croydon perhaps, been able to live life as incognito as the rest of us, is anything like Nick Cave or Ozzy Osbourne, let alone Billy Idol. Perhaps, though, in football, those who survive long enough deserve the tearful send-off. After all, as Liverpool’s psychodrama over Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure suggests, football loyalty is in the eye of the beholder. Trent, by the by, runs a foundation for those, unlike him, who never made the grade and felt the cruelty of a profession that breaks hearts harder than any rock star.

Joel Ward of Crystal Palace seen with his children on his last appearance

While Ward was being deified, at Eastlands a high-concept farewell was being bade to Kevin De Bruyne, a true Manchester City great, the best midfielder of the last decade in the Premier League, perhaps second only to Colin Bell in club lore. Thing is, De Bruyne has been making noises that he would have preferred to stay. Ward, 35, meanwhile has featured in just three matches all season. Both have been cut from wage bills and given the soft landing of a leaving party at the closure of their employment contracts. Talking of which: Pep Guardiola, who stopped short of sobbing “he is so nice” of King Kev as he once did when jibbing out Sergio Agüero, was busy throwing the blue door marked “Do One” wide open, having spent £200m in January. “I don’t want to leave five or six players in the freezer,” he roared of his expensive squad-fillers. “I don’t want that. I will quit. Make a shorter squad, I will stay. It’s impossible for my soul.” OK. Right. Does Jack Grealish get a leaving do?

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Join Scott Murray from 8pm BST for hot Bigger Vase final minute-by-minute coverage of Tottenham 0-1 Manchester United (aet).

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The celebrations went on a long time. We had a few Jägerbombs and were up pretty late! The buzz has been amazing over the last few days. I’ve pretty much been crying ever since we won” – Palace fan Nicola Webb talks to Ed Aarons as he catches up with the non-stop party in south London.

May I be the first of 1,057 to point out that yesterday’s tea-time email contained line after line of unreadable coded text. There was also something wrong after the letters section” – Joseph Brown (and no others).

Can I be one of 1,057 pedants to suggest that in order not to make a laughing stock of the Greatest League in the World™ by the quality (?) of their play, maybe Spurs and Manchester United should agree to go straight to penalties?” – Richard Hirst (and no other pedants).

A doff of the cap to The Knowledge for this wonderful comparison on the Bigger Vase final (aka: two bald men fighting over a comb): ‘Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, who meet in Bilbao … are 17th and 16th in the Premier League, respectively … equivalent to Oldham Athletic playing Southampton in the Uefa Cup final of 1992’” – Noble Francis.

Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Joseph Brown, who lands some Football Weekly merch. We’ll be in touch. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.

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