Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to react after the club’s official account posted a tweet commemorating ten years to the day since Paul Hart was appointed as manager, with Dougie Freedman as his assistant.
The former QPR boss was hired the day after Neil Warnock left Selhurst Park with the Eagles well and truly in the mire.
Crystal Palace had just been hit with a ten-point deduction having entered administration midway through the 2009/10 campaign, turning their season completely on its head – the south Londoners were ninth in the Championship, but were then left just three points above the relegation zone after the deduction.
It meant that Hart had a huge job on his hands to keep the club in the Championship, when relegation to League One could easily have seen Crystal Palace fold as a club.
He amazingly managed to keep the Eagles in England’s second tier on the final day of that campaign with a 2-2 draw against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough – a result which relegated the Owls and meant Palace survived by the skin of their teeth.
Let’s see how the Crystal Palace fans on Twitter reacted to the club’s tweet…
To kick off the reaction, these two supporters acknowledged Hart’s role in what is currently one of the Eagles’ best periods as a football club.
His work in keeping Crystal Palace afloat enabled Freedman to build a Championship side consisting of players such as Glenn Murray, Wilfried Zaha, Yannick Bolasie, Mile Jedinak and Damien Delaney, forming a formidable spine which saw the south Londoners eventually earn promotion just three years after they almost ceased to exist.
Elsewhere, Brett and Rico showered the former Leeds boss with praise for his efforts that season.
Even though he arrived to little fanfare as someone who was far from a marquee name, he was in charge throughout what was arguably the hardest period any Crystal Palace manager has ever faced – he has clearly come out of the situation with great respect, even ten years on.
Lastly, this pair of supporters wanted to pinpoint the day as a turning point in the club’s history.
Calling all Eagles fans: Can you get 90% on this quickfire Palace quiz?
“Iconic” was the word of choice from Matthew Starling, and seeing where Crystal Palace are ten years on, it’s safe to describe Hart’s appointment like that.
In other news, one Crystal Palace fan thinks Jairo Riedewald might get his chance after Roy Hodgson’s comments…