Clubs managed: Crystal Palace

It was the end of a promising football career when a young man, then aged just 19, suffered a bad knee injury. Today he would have responded to treatment and surgery but the injury was sustained over 100 years ago and it was necessary for the leg to be amputated.

The injured man was Edmund Goodman. He became Assistant Secretary to his club, Aston Villa, after the injury and when the founders of Crystal Palace turned to Villa for direction and help in forming their club they were offered the services of Edmund. He came to the club in the summer of 1905 before a ball had been kicked and he stayed for 28 years! Edmund was too busy with the administration of the club to even contemplate becoming manager but he appointed John Robson to manage team affairs and found the club's first Chairman, Sydney Bourne.

After the first two seasons Edmund added the responsibility of managing the team to his secretarial tasks and he held the role until 1925. He remains the longest serving manager in the club's history and seems likely to continue so forever. Under his leadership Palace entered the Football League and won the inaugural Division Three title in 1920 as well as some notable victories over higher league opposition in the FA Cup.

In 1925 Edmund relinquished his control over team affairs and returned to his original role of Secretary before retiring in 1933. Clearly, if the club can be said to have a founding father, that person is most certainly Edmund Goodman.

Source: The Men Who Made Crystal Palace, Rev. Nigel Sands (Tempus, 2004)