There is one big problem with the so -called football “fairy tales”.
Instead of “and they all lived happily ever after”, they tend to end with the words “and they all got away to big six clubs”.
Before and after Crystal Palace lifted their first major trophy on Wembley on Saturday, those who inspired the FA Cup triumph of the club were the subjects of a speculation Avalanche about summer switches away from Selhurst Park.
Baas Oliver Glasner is in pole position to take over a Tottenham team not nearly as good as Palace, while Ebereechi Eze has attracted the interest of Spurs and both Manchester clubs, all of which have been defeated by the Eagles this season.
Midfield Man Adam Wharton is sought by Liverpool, while skipper Marc Guehi could continue for a free transfer to Real Madrid or Barcelona.
These are the last things that a palace fan wants to read in the afterglow of the victory over Manchester City – but it is the way the football world, with its large, bad wolves.
Money discussions. The Bigness of Big Clubs is great. And Killjoy PSR instructions are making it increasingly difficult for smaller clubs to be upwardly mobile.
But the day after Palace's Wembley Glory we received a timely memory of the greatest fairy tale trader of English football, Jamie Vardy.
After their miraculous titles success in 2016, Leicester was exactly where Palace now disturbed IS-Hun euphoria by rumbling of a traditional, self-education elite desperately to dismantle their team.
N'Golo Kante immediately went to Chelsea, followed by his midfield partner Danny Drinkwater a year later.
Riyad Mahrez begged for a move, but had to wait until 2018 before he was picked up by Manchester City.
Nevertheless, Vardy, the subject of a big offer from Arsenal in 2016, was based on – claiming that it was an easy decision to stay in Leicester.
The idea of Rough-Diamond Vardy who works under the urban Arsene Wenger is said to have represented an intriguing meeting of the Spirit.
But nine years later there was Vardy, who achieved his 200th goal in his 500th and last match for the Foxes, treated to a guard of the boys of 2016 and was praised as the best player of Leicester ever.
Of course it was still not “luckily ever afterwards”. Leicester has been relegated for the second time in three years after a Trainwreck campaign.
But the performance of Vardy, since his arrival of £ 1 million from Non-League Fleetwood in 2012, have been extraordinary.
From the Great Escape to a record of 11-Match Premier League scorstreak in the title campaign, to the Golden Boot in 2020 and the FA Cup in 2021. Vardy is not your classic romantic hero.
Jane Austen never wrote about a guy who played Non-League football in the ankle label of a convicted person, tauted opponents with continuous S *** house meter and flourished on a diet of Skittles, Wodka and the Snus tobacco product.
Nicknamed Steptoe, because of his resemblance to an old TV-and-bone man, Vardy went from rag to wealth and back to relative rags, because of the defeat of his wife in the lawsuit of Wagatha Christie.
But in an era of Hier-Gone-Tomorrow enhancement in Elite Voetbal, Vardy has been a glorious exception.
He sicken Arsenal, became the goat of the foxes and still works at the age of 38 at the speed of a thoroughbred Renpaard.
Of course, nobody, Wharton, Guehi or one of the last heroes of Palace's Cup, can blame it when they do a ship.
And certainly not Glasner, given the full lack of loyalty to modern football managers.
Claudio Ranieri, architect of the success of Leicester 2016, was fired nine months later -between two legs of a Champions League -Knock -Out match against Sevilla.
When I recently asked Glasner if Spurs would always be a larger club than Palace, he insisted that they “inhabited a different world”.
While Europa League nights in Soulful Selhurst Park sound like a treat, the temptation of a higher salary and higher expectations in a world-class stadium feeds the egos of these men.
Glasner can leave this summer, along with two or three of the best players in Palace, and that would be a shame – because it would be so clear to do clearly.
Vardy is now looking for another Premier League club. Palace may see him as a more reliable backup striker than Eddie Nketiah. And Vardy may see another fairy tale.
Called n 'ashamed
One of the most depressing factors when a club moves to a new stadium is that almost all of them are subject to deals of “name rights”.
Take the new house of Everton-Dat apparently named after a law firm, instead of the Farcical comedian Benny Hill and the Antique dealer David Dickinson with Orange.
English football ground names that were used to possess a certain romance – from Scunthorpe's old show site to Shrewsbury's Gay Meadow. There is nothing so poetic about the 'Hill Dickinson Stadium'.
Fans show that they have Cair
When Fulham stands opposite Manchester City in Craven Cottage on Sunday, both sets supporters will say goodbye to a Talismian midfielder who arrived in his club ten years ago and led them to previously unchanged heights.
And although Kevin De Bruyne was not bad, the Fulham fans will sing “Ain't Nobody Like Tom Cairney”.
Glanville's No Puzzle
Brian Glanville, who died at the age of 93, was a productive journalist and author who was the Doyen of our trade.
And for all the main lines that Glanville wrote, the words I remember were the best he spoke to Loftus Road during a friendly between Trinidad & Tobago and Iceland in 2006.
We covered this bizarre competition because England would play Trinidad during the World Cup of that year, but the “action” was hardly moving, so another valued writer focused his attention on the puzzle section of his newspaper.
To which Glanville shouted: “Four letters starting with 'C' – a guy who puts a crossword in a press box.”
Esse option a ten jerker
The FA Cup success of Crystal Palace is much to be due to their willingness to recruit from the championship-an increasing approach to the Premier League clubs.
Ebereechi Eze, signed from QPR, and Adam Wharton, from Blackburn, were stars of the show, just as Michael Olise was an excellent recruit before reading before the move from last summer to Bayern Munich.
Romain Esse, a signing from January from Millwall, seems that he will prove to be the next such smart purchase of Palace.
It is a miracle that more top flight clubs do not do the same.
Pep's Sour Hend
Pep Guardiola raced with Dean Henderson after the FA Cup defeat of Manchester City by Crystal Palace, reminded of a quote attributed to the American football coach Vince Lombardi – “shows me a good loser and I will show you a loser”.
But despite his reputation for volcanic eruptions, Sir Alex Ferguson – the only manager with more Premier League titles than Guardiola – can often be extremely merciful in the defeat.
Such as after the 2011 Champions League final in Wembley, when Guardiola Barcelona defeated his Manchester United side 3-1.
“Nobody has given us such a blockage, but they deserve it,” Ferguson said. “In my time as a manager this is the best team I have confronted.”
Of course Henderson should have been sent away – but the first major trophy of Palace should have been a moment for similar good grace.
Competition itself
For English watchers, a collision between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan is the least sexy Champions League final in years-not English clubs or players and not Lamine Yamal to wonder.
Yet PSG and Inter are wonderful teams and this promises to be the best final of the competition in years, especially because there has been no decent since Real Madrid's 3-1 victory over Liverpool in 2018.