5 / 5 ( 1 vote )

Raul and Davids clash in the 1995/96 Champions League

Since the dawn of time, new signings have used the ‘childhood club’ line as a way to instantly endear themselves fans. Spurs’ Robbie Keane famously supported 13 or 14 clubs as a young boy pointing and waving on the streets of Tallaght, and has been sure to tell each of them they were the only ones for him.

Tough-tackling midfield veteran Edgar Davids, however, is in a different gear to most footballers, and has explained his recent move to Crystal Palaceusing much more original terms (although just as funny.)

Davids claims Palace has been close to his heart ever since he used to tune in to two young strikers tearing up the First and Second Divisions in the late ’80s:

Why Palace? Two reasons – first, the history. When I was young I used to watch Ian Wright and Mark Bright on ­television, they always played well and that stuck with me.

You heard right. Edgar Davids, a man with 6 league titles, 9 domestic cups, a Champions League medal and more, has spent the past 24 years wistfully reminiscing about the “Wright and Bright” connection.

To be fair, the maths work out. The pair teamed up in 1986 and bagged a rather brilliant 220 goals between them until Wright moved to Arsenal in 1991, the same year an 18-year-old Davids started his club career with Ajax.

As if that wasn’t strange enough, Davids also revealed (rather cryptically) that his move to Palace came about after a fan decided to reach out to him on Twitter during the dark days of the club’s time in administration:

And second, on my Twitter page there was a guy who talked about Palace and he asked ‘The club has a problem, can you help us out?’. I told my followers to support Palace and, after a couple of weeks, I got a tweet from him to say ‘We’re saved, thank you’. I had been training with Ajax, and it was going so well that a friend who also knows the Palace coach accelerated the process.

Which is basically a story that makes less sense every time you read it. Anyway, most Eagles fans won’t care how he got to Selhurst Park, just that he’s there now… although the natty dreads-sporting legend might not be hanging about for long:

I know the Championship is a fast-paced, competitive league and I don’t under-estimate the standard or the physical demands. I might last two games, I might stay here for two years and finish my career with Palace, I don’t know.

Two games?! You sound about as enthusiastic as you look, Edgar.

Tagged With : Crystal Palace • Edgar Davids

