When Football Was Football: Crystal Palace

With more than 200 pages jam-packed full of memory evoking pictures, all taken from the Daily Mirror's huge archive, When Football Was Crystal Palace whisks us through the ages of one of London's best-loved football clubs. From their ostentatious beginnings out of the Crystal Palace Company, based at the glass palace which sat on top of Sydenham Hill, to more humble times at Herne Hill running track, The Nest, and latterly Selhurst Park, the book takes supporters on a nostalgia-filled ride as it celebrates more than 100 years of this wonderful south-London institution. When Football Was Crystal Palace is a unique and superbly presented collection of photographs with iconic figures littered throughout its pages. Early legends such as Bill Davies and Henry Colclough share the spotlight with such as Johnny Byrne, Steve Kember and Jim Cannon, Steve Coppell, Nigel Martyn, Ian Wright, Mark Bright and, of course, more modern-day heroes including Dougie Freedman. It's not just the stars of the show who are featured, though, but also those other great characters who make football clubs the chairmen, managers, laundry girls and, perhaps most importantly, the fans. Along the way there have been many highs and lows for Crystal Palace and plenty of them feature prominently on these pages. It is a fantastic collection of photographs, one which is sure to rekindle memories of heroes and great moments from the past century.

Tom Hopkinson is a football reporter for the Sunday People. He began his career in journalism on the Coalville, Swadlincote and Ashby Times before joining the Romford Recorder, and has since worked for the Daily Express, Sunday Express and London's Evening Standard. Tom is a regular guest on talkSPORT and he contributed the chapter 'Derby and the Tin Man' for the football anthology 'Life's A Pitch - The Passions of the Press Box'. He also wrote When Football Was Football: Derby County. A big football fan, he hails from Derbyshire and lives in Southwest London.