Crystal Palace Football Club is an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where it has been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship. Crystal Palace was formed in 1905 by workers at The Crystal Palace. The club reached the top division of English Football in 1969–70, and its first major final was in 1990. It was relegated from the top division in 1973 and once again in the following season. That left the club playing in the third tier of English football for the 1974–75 season, before being promoted back to the top level by 1979–80.

Crystal Palace's most recent successful period began in 1988–89, when the club finished third in the Second Division and was promoted to the First Division. It reached the 1990 FA Cup Final only to lose the replay against Manchester United, and finished 3rd in the First Division in 1990–91. Palace was a founding member of the FA Premier League (1992–93) but was relegated that season. Since then Palace has been relegated from and promoted to the FA Premier League on 4 separate occasions. Its most recent relegation from the top flight was in the 2004–05 season.

Steve Parish OAM is a multi-award winning photographer and publisher. Born in Great Britain in 1945, he is the founder of Steve Parish Publishing, which specialises in printing photographic books on nature for adults and children, as well as travel books and souvenirs.

Steve is best known as a wildlife photographer. However, as a child he was a keen spear fisherman and at seventeen a practiced hunter who had bought his first rifle at age 16.

Steve was first introduced to photography when he was given the opportunity to join an expedition to Kangaroo Island led by pioneering Australian underwater photographer Igo Oak. Igo would become a mentor to Parish and a cofounder of the South Australian Underwater Photography Society.

Despite his introduction to photography, Steve's disinterest in school, lack of formal qualifications and proven competency with firearms saw him start an apprenticeship as a gunsmith in Adelaide.

In 1963 at age eighteen, Parish joined the Royal Australian Navy, where he learned to dive.

Anthony Richard "Tony" Pulis (born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer currently managing Stoke City. Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at the age of 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him one of the youngest professional players ever to have obtained the qualification. His son, Anthony, is a professional footballer and played under Pulis at Stoke. Pulis had a seventeen year career as a defender where he played for Bristol Rovers, Newport County, Bournemouth and Gillingham. He did also have a short spell in Hong Kong with Happy Valley.

Pulis took his first steps into management at Bournemouth, where he was a player/coach and then Harry Redknapp's assistant. He then took control when Redknapp left the club. He then went on to Gillingham before leaving in 1999 after a dispute with chairman Paul Scally. Pulis then had unsuccessful spells at Bristol City and Portsmouth before being appointed manager of Stoke City in 2002. He guided Stoke through a tough 2002–03 season avoiding relegation to Division Two on the final day of the season. He spent two more seasons with Stoke before being sacked by Stoke's Icelandic board for 'failing to exploit the foreign market'. He spent the 2005–06 season at Plymouth Argyle before returning to Stoke along with Peter Coates. After narrowly missing out on a play-off spot in the 2006–07 season he guided Stoke City to the Premier League in the 2007–08 season by finishing runners-up in the Football League Championship.

Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English football manager and former player. He became the manager of Blackpool in May 2009, and has guided the club to The Championship play-offs in both of their seasons in the division during his tenure, the first resulting in promotion to the Premier League. Holloway is well-known amongst football fans for his off-the-wall interviews, with a wide selection of quotes and soundbites being printed. Holloway's playing career spanned 18 years from 1981 to 1999. A midfielder, he began his career at hometown club Bristol Rovers in 1981, going on to play for Wimbledon, Brentford, Torquay United (on loan), back to Bristol Rovers for a second spell, Queens Park Rangers and, finally, a third spell back at Bristol Rovers, where he became player-manager before ending his playing career in 1999. Before his current job as Blackpool manager, he had also previously managed QPR, Plymouth Argyle and Leicester City. He is known by the nickname "Ollie", which is also the title of his autobiography.

Douglas "Dougie" Freedman (born 25 May 1974 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former professional football player who played as a striker. He is currently manager at Championship club Crystal Palace, where he spent twelve of his sixteen years as a player.

Freedman began his career with top flight Queens Park Rangers in 1992, but never made their first team. He moved to Third Division Barnet on a free transfer in July 1994, aged 20. He made his league debut in August 1994 and quickly became the club's leading player as he struck 24 goals in his debut season. A bright start to the following season attracted the interest of Crystal Palace.

Freedman was signed by Crystal Palace for a fee of £800,000 in September 1995. He instantly showed he could continue his goalscoring form at the higher level when he netted 20 times in the 1995–96 season. This haul included the second fastest hat-trick in Crystal Palace's history – 11 minutes – against Grimsby Town on 5 March 1996.

The following, 1996-97 season saw a less prolific 11 goals but helped the club to the promotion play-offs. He then scored crucial goals in the 89th and 90th minutes of their Play Off semi-final tie with Wolves after coming off the bench with 17 minutes left. Palace went on to win promotion in the Wembley Play Off final, beating Sheffield United 1–0.