Starting out in the Third Division at Scunthorpe United, Norwich-born Blyth was recruited by Palace manager Bert Head in the summer of 1968, initially playing as an old-style left-half but soon transitioning into a towering centre-back.
Making 31 appearances in his maiden season, Blyth quickly became a key cog in the historic 1968/69 Palace side that won promotion to the First Division for the first time in our history.
There, Blyth continued to write his name into Palace folklore, scoring our first-ever top-flight goal with a controlled header against Manchester United in a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park on the opening day of the 1969/70 season.
As the club fought to retain its top-flight status, Blyth’s indomitable qualities as a centre-back came to the fore, establishing an iconic partnership with John McCormick. Across our first spell in English football’s top division, which lasted between 1969 and 1973, only goalkeeper John Jackson made more appearances than Blyth’s 151.
After Palace endured successive relegations and injuries saw him lose his place in the side, Blyth joined Southampton in September 1974, winning the Saints’ Player of the Year in his maiden season and an FA Cup winner’s medal a year later.
Blyth would later return to Palace, briefly, in the 1977/78 season, on a short-term loan, and his extra half-dozen games saw him total 254 appearances in Palace colours, sitting 37th in the club’s all-time appearances list.
He concluded his career with spells at Cape Town City, Margate, Millwall, Houston Hurricane, Bulova SA and non-league Andover, before retiring from playing and returning to live in south London, where Blyth worked as a driving instructor, a director of a building company and, later, a schoolboy coach at Palace’s Academy.
The thoughts of everyone at the club are with Mel’s family and friends at this time.