Solid prices achieved for Palace-related paintings as they go under hammer at auction

 

Firm prices were achieved for two paintings of local interest when they went under the hammer at a Bonhams auction this morning.  The painting above of a scene from a match played at the old Crystal Palace sold for £127,400 (including buyer's premium) while the study of action between Crystal Palace and Oxford United fetched £1,920 (including premium). The identities of the buyers have not been divulged.

Recalling the days when the old Crystal Palace hosted Man City in FA Cup action

The Crystal Palace provides the impressive backdrop for match action between two clubs whose fortunes have since diverged. 

HERE'S hoping that an important painting featuring football action at the ground of the old Crystal Palace exhibition centre does not leave the country.

There is likely to be interest from overseas, possibly including Abu Dhabi, as well as at home when a vibrant study of a 1926 FA Cup match involving Manchester City comes up for grabs tomorrow  Wednesday December 13.

According to auction house Bonhams, bidding could reach as much as £150,000, maybe more, before the hammer falls.  

The  match was played on January 9, 1926, 10 years before the magnificent Crystal Palace building was destroyed by a mystery fire.

City's opponents for the Third Round that day were not today's Crystal Palace, who were by now playing at Selhurst Park, but an amateur side, Corinthians who held on for a 3-3 draw, only to lose 4-0 in the replay  in Manchester.

City went on to reach the final that year, on their way defeating Crystal Palace by a bizarre 11-4 scoreline.

But they fell short at Wembley, losing 1-0 to Bolton Wanderers.

What of Palace in the same competition that year? Before losing to City, they had between Northampton Town (after a replay) and Chelsea.

The artist of the painting above is Charles Cundall (1890-1971) who came from Manchester where he studied at the College of Art, and it is possible that he was commissioned by City. 

But that seems unlikely given that his focus is not so much on the match action but on the activity among the fans, some perched on branches of trees.

Some of his most notable later works featured World War 2 incidents such as the withdrawal of British troops from Dunkirk.

The best-known painter of football scenes was another Manchester artist, L.S. Lowry, whose 1949 work, The Football Match, sold at Christies for £5.6-million in January 2013.

What of Corinthians? In 1939, just before the outbreak or the war, they merged with another amateur club, to become Corinthian-Casuals. 

Their all-white strip is said to have been the inspiration for the similar strip worn by Spanish giants Real Madrid.  

Holloway: Niklas Bendtner would have been 'great signing' for Palace, but chairman blocked deal

Book reveals Holloway's fall-out with club chairman

FORMER Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway has revealed how he fell out with club chairman Steve Parish over a prospective signing.

The former's target player was  Niklas Bendtner, a Danish striker who had been struggling to hit top form at Arsenal.

"I thought he would could be a great signing for us," says Holloway in his book which was published in paperback earlier this year. "I was thinking he could bring us that little extra bit of quality we needed."

He thought the deal had been sorted in the run-up to the transfer deadline - but it was not to be.

"I came in the following morning and sitting there was another lad."

When Holloway protested to the chairman that he had not been kept informed about the Bendtner situation and knew nothing about the alternative signing, the chairman was unapologetic.

He is quoted by Holloway as having responded: "What you've got to realise is that it's my show,"

The then manager's response was: "You're too close to this agent, and you've undermined me - he hasn't mentioned the player once to me and the kid isn't on my radar."

In his book, How To Be A Football Manager, confides: "That hurt me so much, but the golden rule here is that, if you fall out with the chairman, there's almost certainly going to be only one winner."

Within days, Holloway had left the club, shortly afterwards to be replaced by his friend, Tony Pulis, author of the foreword to the book.

Steve Parish is not identified in this section of the book, but it does not take an Einstein to work out that it is he is the 'chairman' referred to. 

Later, Holloway concedes: "In fairness to my former chairman, what he's done with the club up to the present day is fantastic, but working his way was not the way I wanted to manage.

"We'd been good for each other, but it was time to move on." 

Nor is the agent named but he is thought to be Will Salthouse (42), boss of the firm, Unique Sports Group.

Also unnamed is the player signed in favour of Bendtner but it is thought to have been  either Adlène Guedioura or Adrian Mariappa.

In his book, Holloway also reveals how, during Palace's promotion season, he became "needled" at press conference when he was constantly asked about Wilf Zaha when his ethos was about the "team" and "everyone being equally important".

In response to a question from one journalist, he snapped: "Why don't you ask me about Mile Jedinak who is one of the finest leaders I have ever worked with, both on and off the pitch?"

During the same session, the former manager went to bang the drum for Glenn Murray, Damien Delaney and Julian Speroni.    

Full of fascinating insights about his four decades in football - and plentiful witticisms - How To Be a Football Manager is published by Headline Publishing at £22.  

Why did artist choose to paint study of match between Palace and Oxford United?

 

Who is taking the throw? Anyone hazard a guess?

CAN anyone recall a match - thought to have been played at Selhurst Park - between Palace and Oxford United?

It features in a painting that is set to go under the hammer on December 13 in a sale being conducted by the London auction house, Bonhams.

Curiously, centre stage is not so much the on-pitch action as a steward - or, rather, a back view of a steward?

When was the match played? What was the result? What is the identity of the steward? Who are the ball boys? And who (Number 3) is taking in the throw-in for Palace?   

Another mystery. How did the artist, Austrian-British Hans Schwarz come to be at the match? Was he a Palace fan?

It is too late to ask him because he died, aged 81, in 2003.

The guide price for the 49.5 x 71cm (19.5 x 28 in) painting is £1,500-2,000, and it looks likely to be met and even exceeded.

According to Bonhams, online bidding had already reached £1,400 four days before the date of the sale.

Did he walk or was he pushed? Ian Holloway reflects on his abrupt departure as Palace manager

                                                                        

Full of anecdotes and advice - the new book 

"I had a pittance of a pay-off -  and I mean a pittance . . .

So says former Palace manager Ian Holloway who was in charge of the club during the greater part of their 2012-13 promotion season and for the start of their subsequent campaign in the top tier.

The consensus at the time was that Holloway had left of his own volition, blaming stress and burn-out, following a 4-1 home defeat (October 21, 2013) to Fulham - the seventh reverse in eight outings.

But in his new book, Holloway rejects "the old 'mutual consent' explanation".

He insists: "I was sacked."

Holloway goes on to say that, before leaving, he raised the  subject of a pay-off  with club chairman (Steve Parish).

He said the pair had shaken hands on what he thought had been an agreement on a target he claimed to have achieved.

But he received short shrift from the chairman who rejected the request, telling the manager he should have had something in writing.

Holloway says he responded thus: "I told him I had trusted him to do the right thing, but there was nothing I could do.

"He was right - it was my fault and nobody else's and, in business, people don't work on trust."

Not that there seems to have been any lingering bad feeling between the two thereafter.

Holloway says he helped the chairman to identify his own replacement (Tony Pulis) who took the reins a month later after a caretaker spell by assistant manager Keith Millen. 

The appointment was a success. "It really worked for them and he took them up the table fairly quickly."

Holloway concludes with a generous word for Parish: "In fairness to my former chairman, what he's done with the club up to the present day is fantastic." 

How To Be A Football Manager is full of anecdotes (and words of advice) about Holloway's four decades in football as a player, manager and pundit.

Published by Headline Publishing at £22, it is available wherever books are sold. 

FOOTBALL PUBLICATIONS FOR SALE

ONE of the saddest episodes in the history of Crystal Palace Football Club is recalled in this absorbing publication.

Originally from Prudhoe in Northumberland, Billy Callender was a popular goalkeeper who made more than 200 appearances for the club between 1926 and 1932.

He fell in love with Ella Leslie, a Thornton Heath girl, and the couple became engaged - but the marriage was called off after she was struck down by the crippling disease, polio.

Callender cared for her during her illness, pushing her around the park in a wheelchair and was heartbroken when she died.

He was never able to come to terms with his grief and, according to his landlady, suffered a breakdown.

A few weeks later, he signed on for the new season at Selhurst Park but never left the ground.

The following day, he was found in tragic circumstances in the old stand. His pockets contained letters and a photograph of his sweetheart.

In The Sad Story of Billy Callender, tribute is paid  to the kindness and devotion shown by the goalkeeper, especially in Ella’s last days when she was bedridden.

The text also traces Callender’s impressive playing career (he was awarded a testimonial for long service to Palace) and the circumstances surrounding his untimely death.

                                                                       ****** 

THE spotlight falls on Dougie Freedman in this publication which looks back on the ups and down of his career as a player.

It started with apprenticeship at Queens Park Rangers, where he never played for the first team, and ended at Southend United.

In between, there were also spells where he enjoyed varying degrees of success at Crystal Palace, Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Leeds.

Recalled are not just the highlights, but also the lowlights - including his occasional run-ins with managers such as Gerry Francis, Mark McGhee and Ron Atkinson.

Freedman seldom played in the Premier League, but there was one match of  which he will not have happy memories - as a Forest player in a record 8-1 home drubbing  against a Manchester United side which was on its way to an historic Treble.

Afterwards, Atkinson angered the Forest faithful with his jocular description of the match as "a nine-goal thriller"!

The publication also recalls the striker's childhood  in a deprived  part of   Glasgow and the strong influence of his family as he was growing up.

One of the biggest disappointments for Freedman - who subsequently managed Palace, then Bolton -  was that he was so seldom given the opportunity to play for Scotland.

But, when he was eventually selected, he did not let his side down, scoring one of the goals in a 2-1 win against Latvia in a World Cup qualifier.

***

SCOTTISH-born striker Matt Tees scored more than 200 goals in the ‘Sixties and ‘Seventies.

In this fascinating retrospective, he offers fascinating insights on his time as a player with Airdrie, Grimsby Town, Charlton Athletic, Luton and Boston United.

He has fascinating tales to tell about the people he has met - including his sometimes tricky relationship with manager Lawrie McMenemy, one of his managers at Grimsby, and an offbeat bath-time encounter with the late Eric Morecambe who was a Luton director.    

Oddly, throughout his career, Matt never once took a penalty. "I couldn't kick the ball far enough,"he jokes.

Matt also describes the great relationship he enjoyed with fans and expresses regret that he never had the chance to play in a farewell match at any of his clubs - particularly Grimsby’s Blundell Park ground which was his happiest hunting ground.

  

In addition, Matt  reflects on the professional game as it is today, offers tips on the art of scoring and describes the importance to him of his happy home life in Cleethorpes - he and wife May have two sons and four grandchildren.

All titles are available  as e-books on Kindle or via Amazon or at £2 each (post free) from publishers:

James Wright
27a Parker Street
Cleethorpes
North East Lincolnshire 
DN35 8TH
UK