EXCLUSIVE: For Croydon’s Tory Mayor, failing to get a chance to bask in the reflected glory of the football club is another tale of ‘what might have been’. By STEVEN DOWNES
Increasingly desperate: Jason Perry’s attempt to wrap himself in red and blue has received a snub from the club
Croydon Mayor Jason Perry has been snubbed by Crystal Palace Football Club over the staging of the FA Cup-winners’ victory parade. The parade goes ahead on Bank Holiday Monday, but it is going nowhere near the Town Hall.
Palace finally confirmed the details of their open-top bus parade this morning – a somewhat curtailed ride down Whitehorse Lane to Selhurst Park, after Bromley Council refused them permission to end their celebrations in Crystal Palace Park.
Yet Palace did have another possible option with Croydon – an option they chose not to take.
Inside Croydon understands that in the lead-up to last Saturday’s FA Cup final, officials from Croydon Council approached the club to enquire about their plans for the traditional cup-winners’ parade – an event that has never occurred before, with the FA Cup being the first major trophy win in the club’s 120-year history.
The only previous time that Crystal Palace have had an open-top bus parade in the borough that they call home was in 1969, after winning promotion to the old First Division. On that occasion, the parade ended at the Fairfield Halls, rather than at the Town Hall.
Prayers answered: Eze and his Palace team mates celebrate the decisive goal scored in Saturday’s Wembley Cup final
Croydon’s elected Mayor Jason Perry likes nothing better than to wrap himself in red and blue as some kind of protection against the mounting criticisms of his failed administration.
He frequently refers to his season ticket-holder status at Selhurst Park, such as when he shoe-horned that detail into his annual “State of the Borough” address in the Town Hall Chamber last week.
Before the Wembley final, Perry cut a slightly desperate figure as he tried to jump on the Palace goodwill bandwagon with a video message from inside his favourite Croydon venue, Boozepark.
The Tory Mayor would have liked nothing better than to be able to welcome Steve Parish, Oliver Glasner, final goal-scorer Eberechi Eze and the rest of the squad, together with the FA Cup itself, on the steps of Croydon Town Hall at the end of their parade.
Imagine the photo ops, less than a year before the council elections! Imagine the pages that pictures from such an event could fill in the next issue of Perry’s Our Croydon news rag, all paid for with your money!
But Perry has been denied his moment basking in the reflected limelight of Palace’s finest hour and a half.
Council overtures to the club received a firm “No thanks” over the possibility of routing their parade into the centre of Croydon.
With two league fixtures still to play after the Cup final, the season ending at Anfield against Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, Palace never intended to stage their victory parade on the day after Wembley (Manchester City, the losing finalists, had made a similar decision on the contingency that they might win).
Short ride: the route of Crystal Palace’s victory parade, which is being staged on Monday
Rather than parade the two miles or so from Selhurst Park to Croydon Town Hall, the football club wanted to take the players and staff to Crystal Palace Park, which comes under the local authority control of Bromley.
“It would be especially poignant,” a Palace insider said, “to do it at the club’s former home.” Crystal Palace Park, of course, also staged the FA Cup final between 1895 and 1914.
After several days of negotiations – no plans for the victory parade were announced even as Palace played their last home fixture of the season on Tuesday evening – eventually the club had to come up with their alternative plan. “What a let down,” one Palace fan said. And that was putting it mildly.
The club’s official website has been reported to be “in meltdown” this morning, as tens of thousands of loyal Eagles fans attempted to log on to book their tickets for a place in the stadium on Monday. There is no ticketing required to line the open-top bus parade route down Whitehorse Lane.
“It’s the day you’ve long been waiting for,” the Crystal Palace website announced. “Palace’s open-top bus parade will transport your FA Cup-winning heroes, and the historic trophy itself, down the SE25 streets starting at the top of Whitehorse Lane.”
That parade is due to begin at 1pm on May 26, and is expected to take 45minutes.
“Be there to bring the noise, and celebrate with Oliver Glasner’s outstanding Eagles as they show off our legendary prize…
“This will then feed into a party on the pitch at Selhurst Park from [2.30pm]: live entertainment, special guests, end-of-season awards – and maybe even a trophy lift or two – await.
“The event inside Selhurst will be free, but ticketed; supporters can either book standing tickets on the famous Selhurst Park pitch, or take their seats in the Main Stand, Holmesdale Road Stand or Whitehorse Lane.
“When you’re there, grab a drink, some food – and get ready to celebrate your 2025 FA Cup-winning heroes, South London style.”
There’s even a chance that Croydon Mayor Jason Perry will have to get in the ticket queue along with everyone else.
Read our match report from Wembley: A dream becomes reality: Wembley shook and it was beautiful
Read more: We’re South London and very, very proud of our FA Cup team
Read more: Palace record-breaker Joel Ward: This is merely ‘See you later’
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