Two men sitting in the Crystal Palace end at Wembley during the FA Cup final were in tears before a ball had even been kicked. Their names were Dominic and Nathan Wealleans, south Londoners and lifelong season ticket holders, and right next to them the Palace fans had just unfurled a tifo that showed them as children, 14 years ago, hugging their dad, Mark. Back in 2011, when Darren Ambrose scored a belter against Manchester United, cameras had panned to the 3000 odd Palace fans in attendance at Old Trafford and had then zoomed in to the trio as they celebrated wildly. Mark had died in 2017, but his sons were there at Wembley, the Wealleans' representation strong as ever ahead of what would become the greatest day in their club's history.
Best fans in the world. #CPFC pic.twitter.com/iSU1or2xI0
- Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) May 17, 2025
There are clubs where winning trophies are part of the KRAs, where final losses are counted as embarrassments, where banter comes and goes in the heft of silverware in the cabinets... Crystal Palace is not one of those clubs. This is not a slight on Palace, just a fact. If you ever read a line that goes 'Crystal Palace's long wait for a trophy ends,' know that it's factually incorrect: waiting implies expectation of delivery. There was none here. There's never been for Palace.
What they do have, though, are the Wealleans, and tens of thousands of fans just like them. Through years of lower division wilderness and bottom of the table mediocrity, they've sat through it all, collecting and hoarding moments like the Ambrose goal with a care and love many fans of 'bigger' clubs simply don't understand. Palace fans could have chosen any tifo they wanted at Wembley -- the eyes of the footballing world were on them, and that magnificent eagle on the crest lends itself to a great many ideas of grandeur and majesty -- but they chose this. They understood, at a basic level, that encapsulated in that picture was the true point of all this football lark.
On Saturday, Palace did what most thought was an impossibility. They beat the Manchester City behemoth, powered by a goal that Pep Guardiola would have been proud of (Henderson to Guehi, Guehi to Lacroix, Lacroix to Richards as they invited the City press and bypassed it with an aerial to Mateta. Mateta to Kamada to Mateta again. Spread wide onto Munoz. Cutback to Eze. Into the back of the net) and scored by a south Londoner, a stubborn Mancunian in goal and a German mastermind on the sidelines, to win the first trophy in 119 years. As the full-time whistle blew, Dominic and Nathan could barely contain themselves.
Full time �� pic.twitter.com/IQ0GzGrVUE
- Jake Warren (@TheJakeWarren) May 17, 2025
After their semifinal win over Aston Villa, Palace manager Oliver Glasner had told his players to bask in the love their fans had shown them: "These minutes out there, guys, you can't buy. You can have billions of pounds, you can't buy, guys. To walk [around] the pitch and get all this happiness, guys, this [joy] from the fans...".
This was all that x 1000. After they lifted the trophy, club co-owner and Palace fan from the mid-70s, Steve Parish came on pitch to talk to the BBC. "Look at them," he said, pointing at the fans, "We owed them a trophy, and we got them one today. This is for everybody... for all the people that stick with you, for all the people that believe. This is for them."
My favourite clip of the season WOW ��
Look at the PURE emotion in that Crystal Palace end ����
So much more than just a game of football!! �� pic.twitter.com/nmtOqHWt4G
- The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) May 17, 2025
Outside the stadium, an elderly gentleman in a Palace scarf and beanie, was asked by Mail Sport about what it means. His answer: "I've waited 70 years for this moment. 70 years, and I thought it would never happen. I thought I would die before it happened." But it did happen, and he was there to see it.
The man that made it happen, Glasner, brushed past the footballing side of the win as he spoke after the match. "The biggest achievement we as football players, football managers... we can have... is not lifting the trophy," he said. "The biggest success that we can have, and this is how I feel, is we could give tens of thousands of our fans, South Londoners, a moment for their life. We can give them great times, we can give them... maybe they have some troubles and problems at home, we give them hours and days where they can forget all this, ja? Just be feeling happy and celebrating... I think this is the biggest achievement sportsmen can do. We did it for our fans."
Years ago, a tifo at Selhurst Park had read, "This is our Church. This is where we heal our hurts." On Saturday, this church's priest gave his congregation a moment they'd never forget, a moment to heal all their hurt.
For that, Oliver Glasner and Crystal Palace FC take our moment of the weekend.