And with Selhurst Park celebrating its 100th anniversary this season - those lights, that turf, that roar which accompanies the boys in red and blue every single match-day - is set to be even more spectacular in the years to come.
Today (6th February 2024), however, marks 109 years to the day that the club played its final match at its very first home ground: the eponymous Crystal Palace.
Our home for a decade, and place of origin for our first nickname ‘the Glaziers’, the Crystal Palace Exhibition Ground would host England international matches and FA Cup finals with crowds of 100,000.
Its story follows that of the founding of the Crystal Palace Company in 1852, created to manage the titular giant cast-iron and glass structure, which was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham in south London after the Great Exhibition.
The Crystal Palace at Sydenham was the world’s first major theme park, and was set in 200 acres of grounds.
Including sporting competition in its business plan, the Company formed the Crystal Palace Club – initially focused solely on cricket, but expanding to football in 1861 – and it was they who proved pioneering figures in the formation of the game we know and love today, as research from historian Peter Manning would confirm.