2000–01 Crystal Palace F.C. season

Crystal Palace

2000–01 season
Chairman	Simon Jordan
Manager	Alan Smith (until 29 April) Steve Kember (caretaker from 29 April)
Stadium	Selhurst Park
First Division	21st
FA Cup	Third round
Worthington Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Morrison (14) All: Morrison (19)
Average home league attendance	17,061
← 1999–2000 2001–02 →

During the 2000–01 English football season, Crystal Palace F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

Singapore financer Jerry Lim purchased an almost bankrupt Crystal Palace in July 2000, and immediately sold the club to mobile phone tycoon and lifelong fan Simon Jordan who, following defeats to non-league sides in pre-season, replaced Coppell with Alan Smith – who had previously been manager from 1993 to 1995. The takeover solved Palace's financial problems, but their on-the-field form slumped and despite reaching the League Cup semi-finals, Smith was sacked in April 2001 with relegation to Division Two looking imminent. With two away games remaining, at Portsmouth and Stockport County, Palace were in 22nd place, three points behind Portsmouth (with an inferior goal difference) and having played a game more, and four points behind Huddersfield (who had played the same number of games and had a superior goal difference). Long serving coach Steve Kember was put in temporary charge of the first team alongside Terry Bullivant, and after making changes to the playing side, Palace travelled to Portsmouth and came away with a much needed 4-2 victory. When the last day of the season arrived, Palace were in 20th place, one goal better off than Portsmouth. With 87 minutes of the game at Stockport gone, the score was 0-0, a result that would have resulted in Palace's relegation, but Dougie Freedman burst into the Stockport County penalty area and lashed a shot past Stockport 'keeper Lee Jones into the back of the net, triggering the relegation of Huddersfield Town and saving Palace. The goal was controversial, as there had been a clear handball by Palace midfielder David Hopkin just moments before, which the referee had not awarded a free-kick for. Still, the Palace fans didn't care, and many of the 3,000 who had travelled poured onto Stockport's Edgeley Park pitch, celebrating with the players.

Final league table

Main article: 2000–01 Football League

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1.	Fulham	46	30	11	5	90	32	+58	101
2.	Blackburn Rovers	46	26	13	7	76	39	+37	91
3.	Bolton Wanderers	46	24	15	7	76	45	+31	87
4.	Preston North End	46	23	9	14	64	52	+12	78
5.	Birmingham City	46	23	9	14	59	48	+11	78
6.	West Bromwich Albion	46	21	11	14	60	52	+8	74
7.	Burnley	46	21	9	16	50	54	-4	72
8.	Wimbledon	46	17	18	11	71	50	+21	69
9.	Watford	46	20	9	17	76	67	+9	69
10.	Sheffield United	46	19	11	16	52	49	+3	68
11.	Nottingham Forest	46	20	8	18	55	53	+2	68
12.	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	14	13	19	45	48	-3	55
13.	Gillingham	46	13	16	17	61	66	-5	55
14.	Crewe Alexandra	46	15	10	21	47	62	-15	55
15.	Norwich City	46	14	12	20	46	58	-12	54
16.	Barnsley	46	15	9	22	49	62	-13	54
17.	Sheffield Wednesday	46	15	8	23	52	71	-19	53
18.	Grimsby Town	46	14	10	22	43	62	-19	52
19.	Stockport County	46	11	18	17	58	65	-7	51
20.	Portsmouth	46	10	19	17	47	59	-12	49
21.	Crystal Palace	46	12	13	21	57	70	-13	49
22.	Huddersfield Town	46	11	15	20	48	57	-9	48
23.	Queens Park Rangers	46	7	19	20	45	75	-30	40
24.	Tranmere Rovers	46	9	11	26	46	77	-31	38

Key
Promoted to the Premier League
Qualified for the promotion playoff
Relegated to Division 2

Results

Crystal Palace's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
12 August 2000	Blackburn Rovers	A	0-2	18,733
20 August 2000	Queens Park Rangers	H	1-1	19,020	Forssell
26 August 2000	Huddersfield Town	A	2-1	10,670	Gray, Ruddock
28 August 2000	Nottingham Forest	H	2-3	18,865	Black, Zhiyi
3 September 2000	West Bromwich Albion	A	0-1	13,980
9 September 2000	Burnley	H	0-1	18,531
12 September 2000	Barnsley	H	1-0	16,297	Morrison
16 September 2000	Norwich City	A	0-0	16,828
23 September 2000	Sheffield United	H	0-1	17,521
30 September 2000	Preston North End	A	0-2	13,028
14 October 2000	Birmingham City	A	1-2	17,191	Morrison
18 October 2000	Fulham	A	1-3	16,040	Ruddock
21 October 2000	Portsmouth	H	2-3	15,693	Black (2)
24 October 2000	Grimsby Town	H	0-1	16,685
28 October 2000	Bolton Wanderers	A	3-3	12,879	Freedman (2), Morrison
4 November 2000	Sheffield Wednesday	H	4-1	15,333	Freedman, Morrison, Pollock (2)
11 November 2000	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	3-1	17,658	Freedman, Morrison (2)
18 November 2000	Tranmere Rovers	H	3-2	14,221	Staunton, Pollock, Morrison
25 November 2000	Stockport County	H	2-2	18,819	Forssell (2)
2 December 2000	Grimsby Town	A	2-2	5,802	Forssell, Morrison
5 December 2000	Wimbledon	H	3-1	16,699	Forssell, Morrison (2)
9 December 2000	Watford	H	1-0	16,049	Morrison
16 December 2000	Crewe Alexandra	A	1-1	5,752	Freedman
22 December 2000	Blackburn Rovers	H	2-3	15,010	Forssell, Mullins
26 December 2000	Gillingham	A	1-4	10,518	Freedman (pen)
30 December 2000	Queens Park Rangers	H	1-1	14,439	Morrison
14 January 2001	Nottingham Forest	A	3-0	21,198	Forssell (2), Freedman
20 January 2001	Gillingham	H	2-2	18,823	Freedman, Forssell
3 February 2001	West Bromwich Albion	H	2-2	16,692	Forssell, Pollock
10 February 2001	Burnley	A	2-1	14,973	Forssell, Morrison
17 February 2001	Norwich City	H	1-1	16,417	Forssell
20 February 2001	Barnsley	A	0-1	12,909
24 February 2001	Sheffield United	A	0-1	18,924
3 March 2001	Preston North End	H	0-2	15,160
6 March 2001	Birmingham City	H	1-2	13,987	Austin
10 March 2001	Wimbledon	A	0-1	13,167
17 March 2001	Fulham	H	0-2	21,133
31 March 2001	Crewe Alexandra	H	1-0	20,872	Austin
3 April 2001	Huddersfield Town	H	0-0	15,324
7 April 2001	Watford	A	2-2	15,598	Austin (pen), Black
14 April 2001	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1-4	19,877	Morrison
16 April 2001	Bolton Wanderers	H	0-2	16,842
21 April 2001	Tranmere Rovers	A	1-1	8,119	Hopkin
28 April 2001	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0-2	18,993
2 May 2001	Portsmouth	A	4-2	19,013	Forssell, Riihilahti, Freedman (2)
6 May 2001	Stockport County	A	1-0	9,782	Freedman

FA Cup

Main article: 2000–01 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	6 January 2001	Sunderland	A	0-0	30,908
R3R	17 January 2001	Sunderland	H	2-4 (a.e.t.)	15,454	Morrison, Thomson

League Cup

Main article: 2000–01 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	23 August 2000	Cardiff City	H	2-1	5,983	Morrison, Ruddock
R1 2nd Leg	5 September 2000	Cardiff City	A	0-0	4,904
R2 1st Leg	19 September 2000	Burnley	A	2-2	5,889	Forssell, Black
R2 2nd Leg	26 September 2000	Burnley	H	1-1 (won on away goals)	5,720	Linighan
R3	1 November 2000	Leicester City	A	3-0	12,965	Morrison, Thomson, Rubins
R4	28 November 2000	Tranmere Rovers	H	0-0 (won 6-5 on pens)	10,271
R5	19 December 2000	Sunderland	H	2-1	15,945	Forssell, Morrison
SF 1st Leg	10 January 2001	Liverpool	H	2-1	25,933	Rubins, Morrison
SF 2nd Leg	24 January 2001	Liverpool	A	0-5	41,854

Squad

[1] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 2 DF Jamie Smith 3 DF Matthew Upson (on loan from Arsenal) 4 DF Dean Austin 5 MF Fan Zhiyi 6 DF Neil Ruddock 7 MF Hayden Mullins 8 MF Simon Rodger 9 FW Dougie Freedman 10 FW Clinton Morrison 11 MF Tommy Black 12 MF Julian Gray 13 GK Hubert Busby 14 MF Steve Thomson 15 FW Mikael Forssell (on loan from Chelsea) 16 DF Andy Frampton 17 FW Andrejs Rubins 18 MF Wayne Carlisle 19 DF David Woozley 20 DF Richard Harris

No. Position Player 21 GK Matt Gregg 22 FW Andy Martin 23 DF Stephen Evans 24 DF James Hibburt 25 MF Stephen Hunt 26 DF Sean Hankin 27 DF Steve Kabba 28 FW Roscoe D'Sane 29 DF Jonathan Boardman 30 FW Chris Sharpling 31 DF Gregg Berhalter 32 MF Jamie Pollock 33 DF Craig Harrison 34 FW Ricardo Fuller 35 GK Aleksandrs Koļinko 37 DF Richard Howell 38 MF David Hopkin 39 DF Kenny Verhoene 40 MF Aki Riihilahti

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Stuart Taylor (on loan from Arsenal) 17 DF Andy Linighan (to Oxford United) 34 FW Paul Kitson (on loan from West Ham United) 9 FW Leon McKenzie (to Peterborough United) 3 MF Jamie Fullarton (to Dundee United)

No. Position Player 31 GK Lee Kendall (to Cardiff City) 34 DF Steve Staunton (on loan from Liverpool) 36 DF Andy Morrison (on loan from Manchester City) 13 GK Fraser Digby (Released) 36 DF Amir Karić (on loan from Ipswich Town)