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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Crystal Palace legend Mile Jedinak has given an interesting interview to The Athletic about his time at Selhurst Park, with some intriguing snippets to say the least.
The former Australia international – who made 179 appearances for the Eagles across a five-year stay – captained the Eagles to a first FA Cup final in 26 years, and also led them to the unlikeliest of promotions back in 2013.
Jedinak, a dominant midfield presence, departed SE25 after being stripped of the captaincy by Alan Pardew and sold to Aston Villa, but he is still fondly remembered as a club icon – the club’s Twitter account even called him a ‘legend’ themselves.
While speaking to The Athletic, Jedinak named his worst Palace moment, and it is one that is hard to argue with.
What did he say?
The 35-year-old said: “You knew Crystal Palace don’t often make FA Cup finals. Why not be the first ones to lift an FA Cup? It almost was us. That’s the hardest thing to take from it all.”
Club correspondent Matt Woosnam also wrote about how Jedinak described the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United as his ‘worst’ moment at the club and the ‘only regret’ from his stay in SE25.
Hard to disagree
The south Londoners have never won a significant trophy, and were just over ten minutes from doing so after Jason Puncheon’s 78th-minute strike at Wembley back in 2016.
In truth, Pardew’s side should have seen the game out from then on and become history makers, winning the first trophy in the club’s history and becoming legends in doing so.
A win also would have seen Palace compete in Europe with a passage into the Europa League, which would have enabled Jedinak to write another beautiful chapter in his story with the Eagles.
Given how close the Aussie and his teammates were to winning the FA Cup, and the manner in which they threw it away – the Eagles conceded almost immediately after scoring the opener – it is especially hard to disagree with what Jedinak describes as his ‘worst’ moment at the club.
And considering Pardew was involved in both the final and the club’s dismissal of their ‘legend’, we don’t think the former Newcastle boss will be on Jedinak’s Christmas card list.