Shut-outs would become a feature of Burridge's palace career, with the shot-stopper keeping 21 clean sheets in the 1978/79 promotion season and conceding just 24 goals, to this day a club record.
It wasn't so long ago, however, we got the man himself on the phone from his villa in Oman. Over 40 minutes, he covered everything from Kenny Sansom to Ali Al-Habsi, gymnastics to the English sun, and obstructive groundsmen to Lionel Messi.
There was a lot of laughing and a lot of swearing. We hardly ask a question.
The same zeal which endeared Cumbria-born Burridge to south Londoners 45 years ago still comes across via a crackly phone connection stretching 4,500 miles.
“Palace is the best club,” Burridge says, having declared it was time to talk about the Eagles.
“I enjoyed myself better than anywhere of any club I’ve ever been," he continues. "I’ve had a few clubs. When I was at Palace, I was 26-years-old, prime of my life and I was the elder statesman. We had such a young team.”
Signing in 1978 for a two-year stint, Burridge joined the Eagles’ ranks alongside the likes of Sansom, Vince Hilaire, Jerry Murphy, Dave Swindlehurst and others.
At the end of the 1970s, Palace were an exciting team, known for their promising, dynamic youngsters and eye-catching, passing football - a style enacted years ahead of its time.
For the recently signed Burridge - then joining his fifth of 29 professional clubs - understanding Palace’s tactics had to be learned the hard way.
“I remember getting the ball," he looks back, laughing. "Kenny Sansom came and stood 10 yards away from me. He went: ‘Give me the effin’ ball.’ I didn’t know Kenny then, he wasn’t an England international.
“He was only 17 or 18 and said: ‘Give me the ball.’ I said: ‘Eff off!’ I booted it downfield. He was only 10 yards out and there’s a lad waiting 20 yards away to trap him. So I booted it again [the next time].
