Published: 02:00, 6 November 2025 | Updated: 02:00, 6 November 2025

As Crystal Palace’s players emerged for their Conference League clash against AEK Larnaca last month, fans in the Holmesdale Road Stand at Selhurst Park unveiled an eye-catching tifo.

The display, which is understood to have cost £20,000, showed the journey from London to Leipzig, the location of the competition’s final this season. It was accompanied by the words: ‘We are the boys who will win your little game’, a reference to the classic British sitcom Dad’s Army, and a thinly-veiled dig at UEFA after Palace’s demotion from the Europa League.

The moment felt symbolic of how far the Eagles have come. After all, it is only 15 years since they almost ceased to exist, and two since Roy Hodgson told supporters they had been ‘spoiled in recent times’. That comment came following a decade where the team's highest finish was 10th.

But these are heady times for Palace fans. An incredible FA Cup triumph in May, the first trophy in their 120-year history, was followed by a victory in the Community Shield,...