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Your support makes all the difference.Crystal Palace have confirmed that Julian Speroni will leave the club at the end of the season after 15 years at Selhurst Park.
The Argentinean goalkeeper arrived in 2004 from Dundee, just as Palace ascended to the Premier League under Iain Dowie.
Little did he know what a roller-coaster ride the club would take him on. Little did the fans know that a player whose home debut would be such a disaster would go on to become a club legend.
That first game at Selhurst Park saw Speroni, at this point blessed with flowing locks, robbed by Kevin Campbell as he tried to dribble around the Everton striker. Palace would lose 3-1, Speroni hauling down Campbell for a wholly unavoidable penalty and it wasn't long before Gabor Kiraly, another new signing, had taken his spot.
Speroni hung around though, and he fought.
"It was in the back of my mind, thinking about finding another club where I’d get an opportunity," he told The Independent in 2011.
"But I knew that one would come here eventually and that I could play, and therefore I decided to stay and wait for my chance."
On Kiraly's departure in 2007, Speroni took over the number 1 jersey and quickly restored his reputation as fine shotstopper. What he had established at the club in that intervening period, however, was how much of a model professional he was. In those seasons waiting on the bench, Speroni never moaned once about a lack of game time. Players and former coaches speak of someone who was always there on time, always putting in the extra work and helping new arrivals to adapt to south London.
"There are no words for how much I should thank Julian," Vicente Guaita told The Independent last month. Antonio Pedroza, a Mexican striker who enjoyed a short-lived spell at Selhurst Park, had similar sentiments: "The truth is that Julian has helped me so much. So much.
"Sometimes when I don't have a way to get anywhere, or I have to go somewhere far away, Julian sorts me out. He helps me with my English too, which means a lot."
After taking over from Kiraly as the club's first-choice goalkeeper, it didn't take long for Speroni to establish himself as a fan favourite. His first full season between the sticks saw him crowned Palace's player of the year, a prize he would win three years in a row and a record four times over his spell with the club.
That third award might have been the most important.
With Palace plunged into administration by Simon Jordan's financial mismanagement of the club, the Eagles were under pressure to sell their stars and from fighting for the playoffs the club were suddenly in a relegation battle after having 10 points deducted.
Players were sold, manager Neil Warnock would leave but Speroni insisted on staying. Without his stand-out performances in 2010, Palace would almost certainly have been relegated and - in turn - quite possibly liquidated. Speroni's performances during that campaign, peaking with the emotional crescendo of a final-day showdown with Sheffield Wednesday, are not the only reason that he is considered a club legend but they play a big part.
It is fair to say that without his excellence as a shotstopper and a leader, Crystal Palace could have ceased to exist.
What followed were happier times. Palace surged to the top of the Championship under Dougie Freedman and then achieved promotion with Ian Holloway at the helm. Tony Pulis would ensure the club survived in the Premier League, but this came at a cost to Speroni, who was dropped in favour of the taller, more physical Wayne Hennessey.
Once again though, there were no complaints. Speroni was demoted to third-choice for a period but continued to work hard behind the scenes, also helping out the club with community work and even having a restaurant named after him at the stadium. In 2015 he broke John Jackson's club record for the most appearances by a goalkeeper (347) and that same year was rewarded with a testimonial against former side Dundee for a decade of service.
Speroni hasn't been first-choice goalkeeper for Palace for four seasons now but he would be first-choice for many fans' all-time Palace XI. That isn't just a product of his on-field performances, which were always excellent when called upon, but also for the man he is and has been.
“Julian has devoted the best 15 years of his playing career to our club, and will go down in the record books – but perhaps more importantly, will be remembered as a true club legend by all Palace fans and everyone at the club," said Palace chairman Steve Parish.
"You just don’t get many people like Julian in elite football any more – he is a model professional, ultra-committed, immensely loyal, and has set impeccable standards to his team-mates down the years. His contribution to this club cannot be overstated, and we will be eternally grateful for his service.”
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