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The Independent
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Inside the ultras: The fans behind Crystal Palace's heart-rending FA Cup tifo
Atmospheres are not what they used to be. Crystal Palace, through the Holmesdale Fanatics (HF), are intent on reviving the culture and hope for the future of English football. Saturday's FA Cup final victory over Man City demonstrated why we fell all in love with football in the first place. The typical David and Goliath story never, ever gets old. On the pitch, Oliver Glasner 's soaring Eagles stole the show and captivated our imagination, proving that the lesser-resourced can still win big. But it was off the grass where Palace, and their supporters, truly won our hearts. Fans had been racked with anxiety over the prospect of winning major silverware for the first time ever. They all endured an agonising mental countdown in the days leading up, before snapping into Eagles overdrive after one final trophyless sleep. On Saturday morning, embarking on a largely unfamiliar matchday routine that led them to Wembley Way, fans began to let themselves believe that the very distant, heady dream might just come true. But for the ultras, Wembley preparations kicked into fifth gear the night before. Holmesdale Fanatics, founded in 2005, took to the stands 24 hours before kick-off to set up what would be a spectacular pre-match tifo, intent on making the home of football their own. It was a display that required the physical and fiscal contributions of an entire club, as 20 days of tireless work - and £45,000 of fan funding - came to a head. 'This was an all-out effort to create a display from scratch that would do justice to the occasion,' Holmesdale Fanatics member Mickey Grafton told The Independent. 'It's the making of the tifo by hand, the work, the time, the energy, the unified effort that gives it the meaning, crafted by the fans for the fans.' Signing off with a social media post on the eve of the final, members stood arm-in-arm in front of an empty stadium, decked in their usual black attire with faces blurred - perhaps a slightly intimidating visual for those out of the know. But for HF, anonymity is crucial in driving home what they stand for: unity. 'This isn't about individuals, we are part of a wider fanbase collectively supporting our football club,' Grafton said. 'We do this for all Palace fans. The group stands for collectivism, unity and an organisation that can positively affect the lives of its members, the culture of our football club and the wider local community as a whole." The next day, HF marched through London before going underground, cramming into tubes bound for Wembley Park. There, the fruits of their collective labour were to be unveiled - a display that would set the standard for tifos in a new era of English football fandom. Through the blue and red smoke unfurled a tear-jerking display that encapsulated what it means to be part of Palace. Above a banner that read 'Wembley will shake... and it will be beautiful' showed an illustration of a man clutching his two sons, celebrating in exultant jubilation. It harked back to a moment caught on camera 13-and-a-half years ago, when Palace wrote a different underdog story against the other Manchester powerhouse. Following their then-Championship hopefuls up the West Coast Mainline, they were sent into euphoria as Darren Ambrose rocketed a thunderous 40-yard belter at Old Trafford, putting them on course for what would eventually transpire as a shock League Cup quarter-final victory. What was captured was the uncontained joy, combined with sheer disbelief, of Mark Wealleans and his young sons, Dominic and Nathan, a still that went down in legend. It was a snapshot that showcased the impact this humble yet overtly passionate football club from Croydon can have on generations - how familial bonds can be strengthened and forever cemented by an undying affiliation to the red and blue army. 'It is a story of love, family and football, concepts that transcend the game and an image that recognises the significance of the unity and emotional depth to which Palace fans are wedded to our local team,' Grafton said. Dominic and Nathan, now grown men, were back in the stands on Saturday, but without their father. Mark tragically passed from cancer in 2017. On what would be the greatest few hours in the club's history, the brothers joined many of those around them, also missing loved ones, in seeking comfort that their dad was watching from above. But as kick-off approached, Dominic and Nathan were taken aback, left tearfully agasp. A wonderfully organic moment with their father, that their younger selves had no idea was caught on national television at the time, had been immortalised in one of the most emotionally-pertinent tifos ever created. They were completely in the dark of their inspirational value and were understandably overcome with emotion in its discovery. What would be an unforgettable day was made all the more special as Mark's memory become engrained into the wider fandom, thanks to the ultras. 'We received a call from Nathan on Sunday saying how much it meant to the family and we are humbled that we were able to deliver something that they were proud of and moved by,' Grafton revealed, who added that the secrecy of the display was by design. 'Like all our tifos, we keep the specifics hidden until they are unveiled. It's about creating moments that people participate in and see together for the first time, sharing that moment of inspiration that brings the support together and inspires the team. In that light we had no contact with the family before the game, wanting them to experience it as part of the collective feeling alongside the rest of the support.' It set the tone for the mesmirising game that followed, where Palace took down the country's serial winners to achieve what was previously deemed by many fans as impossible. Yet as fans continue to celebrate into the week, deifying the players and management, it is this tifo that continues to grab the headlines. The display demonstrated that Crystal Palace, fronted by its supporters, are keeping touch with what matters in football, at a time when English outfits are increasingly seeing their identities chipped away by financialisation. Holmesdale Fanatics feel fan collectivism can detoxify the game. "Supporters should demand more from their clubs, too often in the modern era they've become an afterthought with disgraceful ticket prices and games moved to accommodate TV schedules," Grafton argues. "Ordinary people priced out between these factors, greedy train ticket prices and the barely hidden fleecing of those who give their lives to their clubs, in what has become the pursuit of squeezing more money out of a captive audience who are often treated with contempt once they've handed over their money. "Fan unity is the solution to these problems, to fight back against these issues and remind people that ultimately without supporters there would be no football clubs. Fans at their clubs are the safeguarders of club culture and it being accessible to the working man and woman. "Managers, players will all come and go but fans are the continuity. It's our job to remind anyone coming into our club of what is expected of them and the morals and ethos that we expect them to rise to." As such, Holmesdale Fanatics are not just focussing on their own club. They are intent on leading English football fandom into a new age. 'Ultimately, England has been left behind in terms of organised fan culture in Europe,' Grafton said. 'We need more groups established in the Premier League to create atmosphere and help protect the ethos of ordinary fans and the culture of their clubs.' With a continental tour on the horizon, we will get the chance to see how HF shape up against their European counterparts, for whom ultra groups are the norm. 'We now have a chance to go into Europe to compete both for the Europa League and in the stands against many great groups of the continent, all of which is the deserved result of that labour and toil.' But with a shift in English fan culture now feeling imminent, Crystal Palace - and Holmesdale Fanatics - have shown how to do ultras right.
New York Times
19-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How Crystal Palace won the FA Cup: A tearjerking tifo, lucky cufflinks and Glasner's masterplan
It was late on Friday evening that the Holmesdale Fanatics, Crystal Palace's ultras group, uploaded a picture to their X feed. It showed the group, clad in their usual black shirts but with faces blurred out, posing in front of an empty Wembley Stadium. They had been permitted entry to set up their tifo, a display for which £45,000 had been raised by supporters, and the picture was accompanied by a simple message. Advertisement Precisely what the group had spent so many hours preparing only became clear the following afternoon, moments before kick-off at the FA Cup final against Manchester City. As the smoke from the red and blue flares cleared, the display was unfurled: above a banner reading 'Wembley will shake. And it will be beautiful' was the tifo, showing a man clutching his two sons tightly to his body in either arm, in euphoric tears. It was a message to show how much following a football club means, to demonstrate the bond between father and son, parent and child. It was a recreation of a clip captured by TV cameras after Darren Ambrose's stunning 40-yard strike for Palace against Manchester United in the 2011-12 EFL Cup quarter-final, showing the celebrations of Mark Wealleans and his sons, Dominic and Nathan. Mark died from cancer in 2017, but for Dominic and Nathan, those memories have endured. This was a new, albeit different, special moment to add to those they had shared with their dad. 'Because of the flags and the smoke, we couldn't even see anything,' Dominic told The Athletic. 'When I saw it, I just broke down. I was just like, 'Oh my god'. I had no idea, I did not expect it at all. 'All the memories of Palace as a kid were rushing through me. I had my head in my hands crying and me and Nathan gave each other a massive hug. My dad would say to my mum: 'I'll never see Palace win a trophy, but my boys will'. Little did he know, but he was at Wembley as well on Saturday. It's like we felt the win for him.' That moment set the tone for the most glorious day in Crystal Palace's 119-year history — a triumph of spirit, skill, stamina and even the odd curious superstition. This is the story of how they did it. This may have been the most significant match for Palace since their 2016 FA Cup final, but manager Oliver Glasner was determined for it not to feel that way. He had kept his players' schedule as regular as possible: a light session on Monday for those who played in the 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur the day before, with those who had not featured undergoing a more intense session and then building up over the week. Advertisement On Friday afternoon, Glasner had a joint media briefing with captain Marc Guehi at the Beckenham training ground. Afterwards, there had been genuine alarm from Glasner, who had made a beeline for his usual post-press conference pastry, only to find there were none left. 'Where is the pastry?' he asked, desperately looking around the room. As far as superstitions go, this was a serious one. One of Palace's media team sought to find one, to no avail, before Glasner was eventually presented with one in the club's canteen. On Friday afternoon, staff and players travelled by coach across London from their Beckenham training ground to the Landmark hotel in Marylebone. That had also served as the club's base before the semi-final victory over Aston Villa. There were no grand speeches in the hotel, no tubthumping messages of how important this was for the club or how this might be the time for heroes. Instead, it was business as usual. The team meal, the usual conversations and, on Saturday morning, a walk around Baker Street to get the blood pumping before they boarded the team bus for Wembley, a half-hour drive away. If the players were intent on sticking to their set routines, chairman Steve Parish was the opposite. He chose not to drive to Wembley himself, as he would ordinarily have done, or take the London Underground, as he did on the way to the semi-final win over Aston Villa. Instead, he opted to be chauffeured, wearing a suit with the club's crest on it and a pair of shoes he had never worn before. He did, however, have one familiar item: a pair of cufflinks bearing the Stoke City club crest. Parish had bought them from the Stoke club shop before Palace defeated them 2-1 in December 2015, a late Lee Chung-yong winner sending the club to their highest ever Premier League placing at the time (fifth). Parish had forgotten his cufflinks that day and has since considered them his lucky charm. Having intermittently misplaced them, he recently found them again in a pair of suit trousers and opted to wear them to Wembley. Advertisement Co-owner John Textor landed in London on the morning of the game, having watched Lyon's women defeat their Paris Saint-Germain counterparts on Friday evening, before travelling to his Chelsea home and driving to Wembley. Unusually, all four of Palace's general partners — also including Josh Harris and David Blitzer — were together to watch the game in the Royal Box. Also present was former sporting director Dougie Freedman, whose shrewd work in the transfer market had effectively built the team Glasner picked at Wembley. Freedman left Palace for Saudi club Al Diriyah in March but had been invited back to share in the festivities. That was not all. Just as they had been in the semi-final, three former Palace managers — Steve Coppell, who led Palace out in their first FA Cup final in 1990, Alan Smith and Roy Hodgson — were in attendance. They were joined by Gareth Southgate, the ex-Palace captain and England manager. Even Frank de Boer, the former Netherlands international whose disastrous 77-day spell in charge in 2017 left Palace in danger of relegation, could be seen in Wembley's media area. The stage was set. Glasner had no doubt. 'I said to Pep afterwards, if we meet again, you can't play in this system because we will solve it.' Those comments were made to reporters after Palace had been thrashed 5-2 by City in the Premier League in April. At the time, they felt dangerous, hubristic even given the quality that City could offer, but maybe Guardiola had heeded them. The City manager went with four attacking players in his starting line-up — Erling Haaland, Omar Marmoush, Savinho and Jeremy Doku. Glasner was aware that City had played with four attackers against Brighton & Hove Albion and Tottenham earlier this season, but conceded Guardiola had surprised him. Advertisement Glasner, however, was determined not to rip up Palace's approach. For the Austrian, it was a case of being consistent and disciplined and defensively diligent, just as they had been throughout a competition in which they conceded only one goal, to Millwall's Wes Harding in the fifth round. Palace duly soaked up the pressure, with City taking 88 per cent possession in the early stages of the game, but then, in the 16th minute, Palace used that familiar counter-attacking tactic to open City up with their first significant foray forwards — a rapid, intelligent move that they have perfected over the course of the season. Jean-Philippe Mateta held the ball up, played a one-two with Daichi Kamada and then set Daniel Munoz free down the right. His low cross was met first-time by Eberechi Eze and that was it. A goal. An FA Cup-winning goal. There were further chances in a similar vein, with final balls just being too heavy or the move being snuffed out in the nick of time, but City were relentless and continued to dominate possession. Palace were content to push them out wide and keep them wide. 'We analysed that when we gift them the pocket, they're so good,' Glasner told the BBC. 'So (we had to) be patient, wait for the right moments. Let them cross, we can defend it. That's what we learned from the 5-2 defeat — when we gift them the pocket, we will lose. 'It looks like you always want to jump and go (counter-attack), which is what we usually want to do. But be patient and wait for the solutions. We knew in transition and the build-up we could create an overload.' So much for the plan, but for Palace to prevail, they also needed individual moments of brilliance, which, like Glasner's tactics, were also the result of careful preparations. On the morning of the final, back at the Landmark, goalkeeper Dean Henderson had a last-minute debrief with goalkeeping coach Dean Kiely, discussing City's possible penalty takers and instilling the information into his head. Then, Remi Matthews, Palace's third-choice goalkeeper, entered his room: he'd had a premonition that Henderson would have a 'worldie' and save a penalty. Advertisement In the 36th minute, Henderson got the chance to make Matthews' premonition come true. Tyrick Mitchell's foul on Bernardo Silva had given City a penalty and Marmoush, to the surprise of Palace's staff, who had expected Haaland or De Bruyne to step up, seized the ball. Henderson told reporters after the game that Marmoush's style was to 'beat 'keepers for pace that side (the goalkeeper's right) every time', although there may have been another factor at play in his decision to dive that way. In 2017, while on loan at Shrewsbury Town from Manchester United, Henderson had sprung to his right at Wembley to keep out a penalty from Rotherham United's David Ball in the League One play-off final. Either way, Henderson's instinct on Saturday was correct, the pinnacle of a superb performance that featured at least three other high-class saves from Haaland, Doku and Claudio Echeverri, even if City's resentment at the lack of a red card for denying Haaland a goalscoring opportunity by handling outside his area midway through the first half was well founded. That was not the only flashpoint. There was an altercation between Palace assistant manager Paddy McCarthy and one of the City medical staff in the second period, while Henderson's time-wasting in the second half sufficiently irked Guardiola for him to have words with the goalkeeper at full time. Henderson's response was to point out that there were 10 minutes of stoppage time added on. As City's final attack broke down with 30 seconds remaining, relief washed over the Palace end, the sun shimmered on Wembley's upper tier, and a chorus of their classic chant 'Ole, ole, ole, Eagles, Eagles' rang around the stadium. Glasner turned to the fans, applauded and encouraged them to continue, to raise the volume even higher. Then, the final whistle blew, and ecstasy flowed, along with the tears. After the cup had been presented and the on-field celebrations had finally wound down, Palace's players reassembled in the dressing room, with each getting a bottle of beer and Champagne. Kamada was the first to get changed into his suit. Glasner told the players that they had been working for this moment. He reminded them that he had said during the mid-season training camp in Marbella that they had the opportunity to do something special, that he had a feeling they could win the FA Cup, and spoke to them of his pride at their achievement. Advertisement Joel Ward, who celebrated promotion to the Premier League with Palace at Wembley in 2013 and who will leave the club after 13 years this summer, told the players that this was not their ceiling, that they have more to give, more to achieve. 'I told the players now after the game… I'm not the guy with the biggest talents, but I got a feeling for this group of players during the season that we can achieve incredible things,' Glasner said in his post-match press conference. Earlier, Parish had congratulated Glasner, thanking him for what he had done for the club. The manager responded in kind. Glasner also shared an embrace with Textor as he walked up to the Royal Box and the pair later spoke about the Austrian's journey to this point, with Textor having played a significant role in bringing him to Palace. Parish, whose eight-year-old son was a mascot for the game alongside Ward's son, had also shared an unlikely embrace with Textor — with whom he has not always been in harmony since the American's investment in the club in 2019 — after Eze's goal. At the final whistle, all the general partners had hugged as political differences were put aside and forgotten for the day. The players made their way to their families in the stands. Jefferson Lerma's relatives remained there long after many had left, while Henderson went to his brothers Callum and Kai to share an emotional moment in memory of their father, who died from cancer last year. Staff and players then moved on to Wembley's Boxpark, just a few hundred yards from the stadium. The two exceptions were Guehi and Adam Wharton, who had both been taken to hospital for precautionary concussion checks after being struck in the face by the ball in separate second-half incidents. Guehi's eyes had swollen so badly he could hardly see as he went up to accept the trophy, while Wharton — who had not made it up the Wembley steps to receive his medal — later posted a drily humorous picture on his Instagram account from his hospital bed. At Boxpark, Parish lifted the cup and led a rendition of the club's famous 'We Love You' chant, while Will Hughes downed a pint and Henderson sang a new song, to the tune of Shakira's Waka Waka, that was echoing around the Palace end shortly after full time: 'Twelfth again, who gives a f***? We won the FA Cup.' Advertisement The team coach then took them to the Mistress of Mayfair nightclub, where they celebrated long into the early hours of the morning. Parish treated the crowd to a version of the song Rapper's Delight, while Trevoh Chalobah, the Chelsea defender who spent the first half of the season on loan at Palace, made an appearance, as did Jonny Williams, the former Palace midfielder and another member of the 2013 promotion-winning squad. Training was cancelled on Sunday, but the squad were due to report back on Monday before facing Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Tuesday, with Glasner refusing an extra day off because he wants to earn a point to take Palace to 50 points, their highest-ever Premier League total. 'For someone like Oliver, you have to remember it doesn't happen by accident,' Parish told reporters. 'He wants to win things. He wants to give people joy and he's given me a lot of joy back in football and really helped me believe that we could do this. 'Sometimes, maybe I've been part of that lack of belief. I never even imagined that we would get to a final and then there was always that glorious failure tag. But that's what Oliver has done. Even this week, I was telling people we're gonna win, we're gonna win.' Glasner's confidence in his squad throughout the season has enveloped his players, wrapping them into a tight bond to withstand the trials of the campaign, guiding them through the difficult days. If that acted as a shield, as he has previously described it, then Palace's supporters were the sword with which they conquered City. This was one for those who had suffered the most difficult days in the club's history — three administrations, defeats in two previous cup finals, desperately staving off relegation from the second tier on the final day when going down would have put the club's future in grave peril. This was one for those who couldn't make it to north-west London, to those, such as Mark Wealleans, who were not there to see it but to whose families the love had been passed down. Era after era, from generation to generation. After so many years, this was their glorious reward: a first major trophy and the chance to compete in the Europa League for the first time. They made Wembley shake. And it was beautiful. (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Demetrius Robinson)
