WEMBLEY STADIUM, LONDON — Three hours after fulltime at the 2025 FA Cup final, after Crystal Palace made history and secured a victory for the ages over Manchester City, revelry remained in full swing for south Londoners clad in red and blue, still firmly in the grips of delirium and wonderment.
A father positioned his two young daughters, each in Palace kits, for the perfect photograph under the Wembley arch. For that family, it was a picture-book ending to the perfect day. For those letting out sporadic, hoarse howls of “EAAAAAGUUUULLLLS” on the stagger back to Wembley Park station, the night was probably just beginning.
Speaking after Eberechi Eze’s fine 16th-minute goal, Dean Henderson’s penalty save and an unflinching rearguard action saw off City 1-0, Palace boss Oliver Glasner captured the sentiment of such scenes perfectly at his post-match press conference.
“The biggest achievement that we could have, the biggest success, is not them lifting the trophy,” he said, after long-serving captain Joel Ward scaled the stadium steps to lift the first major honour of Crystal Palace’s 120-year existence. “The biggest success that we can have — and this is how I feel it is — is giving tens of thousands of our fans, of south Londoners, we could give them a moment for their lives.
“We could give them great times. Maybe they have some problems at home. We give them hours and days when they forget all of this; just be feeling happy and celebrating. I think this is the biggest achievement that sportsmen can do.”
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The City supporters at the other end of the ground have been treated to plenty of those moments over recent years, more than they could feasibly have dreamed of a couple of decades ago. But a sun-soaked Saturday at England’s national stadium was not theirs. It belonged to Palace and their fans, who will speak about this day for decades and pass the story down through the generations.
If those girls on the stadium steps have children of their own, they’ll definitely tell them all about when grandad took them to Wembley, Palace beat Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and it was the best day ever. That’s the enduring magic of which Glasner spoke so eloquently.
The magic feels less potent when it’s the preserve of a select few, which is why this season’s scenes of fan joy have felt restorative for English football. Palace’s maiden triumph followed Newcastle United’s first major domestic trophy since 1955 when they beat Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. Liverpool are hardly a success-starved club, but Arne Slot ensured their supporters could celebrate a league title win inside Anfield for the first time since 1990, their 2019/20 romp to Premier League glory having concluded under pandemic conditions.
Aston Villa embarked upon a stirring run to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, while Nottingham Forest will return to continental competition next season, having enjoyed their best period since they conquered the continent under Brian Clough.
Meanwhile, the usual “haves” of the current era have struggled. Arsenal were a game away from the Champions League final but their title challenge to Liverpool faded to a whimper. After finishing as runners-up to City in each of the past two seasons, failing to maintain their standards as Guardiola endured his worst campaign in Manchester should sting Mikel Arteta, irrespective of mitigating circumstances around injuries.
Chelsea remain a curious beast in the Todd Boehly era, albeit not one interested in playing consistently well for a long enough period of time to trouble the best. Then there are Manchester United and Tottenham, who prepare to contest the Europa League final in Bilbao while sitting 16th and 17th in the Premier League table.
It felt like last season’s eighth-place finish under Erik ten Hag was the outer limit of how bad things could get for a club with United’s resources, but Ruben Amorim has kept on digging. Tottenham do not have the same weight of expectation, but finishing where they are after 38 games is risible. It also makes a mockery of the very concept of the ‘big six’. It might be time to reconsider that or take it out of use entirely.
Aston Villa and Newcastle are miles ahead of United and Spurs this season and only the biggest optimists at Old Trafford and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would forecast that gap to close next term. It’s fair to say the Premier League’s heavyweights, with the exception of Liverpool, have fallen well below expectations. That’s down to their own failings, but there has never been a middle class of clubs — Palace, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion, Bournemouth and Fulham — so expertly coached and with ample means to hit them where it hurts.
Leicester City’s fairy-tale title win in 2015/16 was followed by a decade of the most powerful clubs tightening their grip. The same thing could happen again, but the relatively less dramatic success of clubs like Palace this season means a more competitive landscape might prove to be more enduring.
The Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules have been much maligned and there are numerous kinks to iron out in the competition’s financial regulations. The verdict in the league’s seismic case against City still looms and will shape much of what comes next, irrespective of the outcome.
But prior to PSR, it feels unlikely Palace would have lined up against City with five England internationals in their XI. If the bigger clubs weren’t being forced to be so careful with their balance sheets, matchwinner Eze, Marc Guehi and Adam Wharton might all have been cherry-picked.
But they were all there playing vital roles to create memories that will last a lifetime. Moments for their lives, in Glasner’s words. Moments that give sport meaning. Elite football in England and Europe is not necessarily designed to produce them, which makes it all the sweeter when you stumble and stagger into them on Wembley Way.
