The Gifted Arrive At The Whitgift.

God Bless Peter Taylor, Marco Reich, David 'Kid' Jensen, Rob Fox, CPFC and all who sail in her! Although it was a wet and humid Saturday afternoon, I decided to venture into Croydon's premier shopping mall to see what was happening at the Crystal Palace FC roadshow. Boy, I'm glad that I turned up.

The roadshow actually started at around 11.00am (the same time as I awoke), but I arrived to see Capital Gold DJ and former Top of the Pops presenter David 'Kid' Jensen giving an interview regarding his support and ongoing connection with CPFC. The DJ has aged quite well (I remember him reporting a drunken passenger to me on a train I was working as a guard over 10 years ago as he alighted at his stop in Esher).

Jensen was being interviewed by Rob Fox (Selhurst Park DJ and matchday announcer). After the interview, Fox (who had no qualms in playing Wot! by ex-Croydon resident and CPFC fan Captain Sensible on his sound system) was giving away match tickets to anyone who could answer a few easy questions.

"What's the name of the dramatic piece of instrumental music that I play prior to the players arriving on the pitch for the start of the match?", he asked. No one knew, as the few guesses where incorrect.

"C'mon, it's the theme of a British gangster film..."

Now, me and my knowledge of gangster theme tunes go together like a Kalashnikov and a violin case.

"I know", I said, putting my hand up with my voice having all the volume of a schoolboy desperate for a visit to the bog. Rob Fox thrust his long thick microphone in my general direction. "Yes...?"

"The Long Good Friday!" I said, triumphantly.

"Here's another lucky ticket winner!" he bellowed, handing me the ticket. For a split second, he made me feel like Charlie Bucket.

Lucky!?!? No luck about that mate, you either know these things or you know not.

However, I am now the proud owner of a competition-won ticket to go and see The Eagles vs Boavista (Portugese division one team), which is to be held next Wednesday at Selhurst Park as a pre-season friendly. Jolly good show it'll be too. Nor do I feel any twinge of guilt at being such a jammy bastard...

Soon afterwards, it was time for brief interviews with Marco Reich (midfielder), Kit Symons (first team coach) and Peter Taylor (new Eagles manager, England under-21 manager and former Palace player to boot...that's him with me in the top left picture and also posing with the Palace mascots).

I managed to get all of them to autograph my Palace centenary book, which will add a nice touch to it if I have to sell it on E-BAY if I ever get desperately short of cash.

Who says you can't have a good time on a Saturday afternoon in Croydon?