We can all recall our club heroes… we’ve just waved goodbye to one that is considered the biggest generation talent we’ve experienced.
There are unsung heroes but we all must have those players who, when asked about your favourite players, are the unlikely names that mean so much to you.
At the impressionable age of nine, owner of an Arsenal away kit with just the knowledge of the team name, I visited Palace for the first time despite having never heard of the team!!
This didn’t matter, I was hooked, and everything that day held significance. Little did I know this was Palace’s first season back in the top flight, nor did I know that the first £1m goalkeeper was making his debut in the way of the mustachiod Nigel Martyn. But for me, it wasn’t Ian Wright, Mark Bright, Andy Gray, or Geoff Thomas who caught my eye. It was the player who occupied the centre fold poster, Richard Shaw.
The affection for Shaw further established when following defeat to the formidable Liverpool in January, Shaw was the only player who waved back as the team bus rolled out to what I believed was a winter training camp trip.
That season Shaw became an established player in a Palace team that not only maintained it’s Division One status (now known as the Premier League to those young readers) but went on to narrowly miss out on the club’s first major title by losing in the FA Cup Final to Manchester United in a Wembley replay.
Shaw exemplified Palace’s approach to many games. He was committed, attentive and appeared to carry out the instruction’s of manager Steve Coppell to the letter with brilliant man marking roles in our famous semi-final victory over the much favoured Liverpool side and the previously mentioned final against United. In fact the respect for Shaw grew further when he immediately turned to his opposite number, Ray Houghton, to shake hands at the final whistle as others sprinted around and embraced with joy at reaching the final.
Shaw soon became a Palace regular. A success story accompanied by his close friend John Salako, as the two youth team graduates found themselves firmly embedded in the Palace team that almost qualified for Europe after a third placed finish the following year.
The years that followed saw differing fortunes. The squad that had seen Palace progress and establish in the top tier gradually began to be dismantled but Shaw remained at the heart of the team, proving his worth across the back four whilst also supporting Gareth Southgate in midfield.
Shaw finally left the club after eight years to again prove his worth at the top level by joining Coventry City. He spent the majority of his career there before entering coaching, and returning to the Palace youth scene that had prepared him so well before again venturing onto new coaching pastures.
Richard Shaw will never be considered one of the greatest of course, but for a player that contributed to the progression of the club in a history changing period, we can definitely consider him an unlikely hero.
