Interview with Crystal Palace fan site The Eagles Beak

With the upcoming match vs. Crystal Palace FC, Cincinnati Soccer Talk has developed a “pen-pal” of sorts. Yosief Tzeghai and Jay Crame of Crystal Palace FC fan site The Eagles Beak have exchanged a Q&A to provide each fan base an in depth view of this weekends opponents. The Eagles Beak is a UK based fan site that hopes to bring an independent based view of CPFC from the fans. Yosief’s Q&A will drop later this week on The Eagles Beak, so make sure to check out their content. Here is the Q&A with Jay.

Q: Can you talk about CPFC’s recent history in the English football pyramid?

We have spent recent years moving between the top two divisions of English football but right now we are about to embark on our fourth successive season in the Premier League. There has been two occasions where the club has been close to dropping into the third tier but both times crucial results went our way.

There is quite a large presence of Palace fans in the US and there are a couple of fan groups that are making arrangements both before and after each of the three games of the tour. Follow Holmesdale USA on Twitter for more details.

Q: What are the favorite chants from Crystal Palace supporters?

Palace fans love a good chant, one of, if not the noisiest group of supporters in the top division. There are plenty actually ranging from the long drawn EAGLES!! to the more popular ‘We’re The Red ‘N ‘Blue Army’. Some are difficult to describe but fellow fan group RedNBlueArmy have put in the effort to list as many as possible here.

This is the great thing about social media and exactly why we are doing this, to give fans of each club a feel about the opposition. There has been a huge amount of interaction with the Palace fan base in the US at the prospect of seeing their team play in their home country.

Q: What should local Palace fans wear when they sit in the CPFC section?

Red and blue are our colours which play a huge part in everything we do so that will be the best bet for any fans wanting to join the Palace support. We also like red and blue balloons and if you saw either of our two recent visits to Wembley Stadium, hopefully that came across on screens all around the world.

There are a number of players missing the trip after being on international duty but I would say the two new signings Andros Townsend and James Tomkins are ones to watch with interest. As for up and coming players, Sullay KaiKai and Hiram Boateng are both in the squad and both highly rated by the club and will be good to see them featured.

Q: What is it like to support a club in a system with promotion and relegation?

Exciting. It certainly keeps the season interesting for longer particularly for those teams in with a chance of promotion or relegation. The play offs have been very kind to us in fact, we have reached a number of finals and only lost one of them. Obviously, it is not nice to experience relegation at all, at any time. We have felt it a number of times now and really do not want to again but it is football and is something we are used to.

Q: What are your predictions for CPFC next season in the EPL?

Such a difficult question to answer. I am hoping that we can push on this season, learn from the last campaign and strive to achieve a top ten finish. The club have really made a statement in the transfer market already this summer and hopefully there will be one or two more signings before the new season begins.

Yosief Tzeghai or @cincysoccertalk

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