Damien Delaney has signed for Cork City in the League of Ireland, returning to where he first started as a kid. Here's Robert remembering the defender's role at Palace. 

The new PUMA sash away kit launch brought back memories of Vince Hilaire in that last 70s sash. Here's why he is one of the most important player in Palace's history. 

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South London in the 70s and early 80s was a pretty grim place to be a young black man. The fascist National Front, with its headquarters in Pawsons Road, seemed to have a demonstration somewhere on an almost weekly basis and enjoyed the kind of police protection that a victim of a racial hate crime could only dream of.

Young white men, disaffected by long running industrial disputes and the spectre of Thatcherism on the horizon, provided an easy recruitment pool for extremists. Lampposts and walls everywhere were adorned with the NF logo and racist views were expressed freely, often on mainstream television shows.

However, such hateful ignorance conflicted the minds of the inhabitants of one pocket of the area surrounding Thornton Heath and Croydon, and that was mainly down to one man.

Born in Forest Gate, East London, Vince Hilaire joined Palace as a junior and made an almost immediate impact in our all conquering youth team that was carefully nurtured by Malcolm Allison and Ernie Walley and included future stars such as Kenny Sansom and Peter Nicholas, and it wasn't long before Terry Venables handed him a debut towards the end of the 1976/77 season at the tender age of 17.

Well meaning but, by today's standards, wholly inappropriate reports in the matchday programme invariably referred to our "exciting coloured forward" and the fans on the Selhurst terraces soon took Vince to their hearts, despite the racist backdrop that we lived under at the time, that was more often than not encouraged by the gutter press.

1977/78 saw Vince become a regular starter in the first team whilst also helping the juniors win the FA youth cup and the following season he was voted Supporters Player of the Year.

Well built, super fast and with some amazing skill on the ball, Vince provided the ammunition for the likes of Dave Swindlehurst and Ian Walsh to fire us to the top flight at the turn of the decade and soon picked up England U21 caps. A debut for the full England side looked to be on the horizon, but sadly fate had other ideas.

Chairman Ray Bloye (one of the most crooked men ever to take control of a football club), decided that he'd had enough of his toy and, after selling off a large chunk of the land that was the property of the football club (and lining his own pockets in the process) he sounded out Blackburn's promising young manager Howard Kendall to take over from Terry Venables.

Venables eventually learned about this and was straight off to QPR, taking much of the squad with him. A conveyor belt of below par managers followed, including a disasterous return for Malcolm Allison, and over the next few years the club bedded in to a slow and painful decline.

It was around this time that Vince's career should've taken off. The likes of Viv Anderson and Laurie Cunningham had already opened the door for quality black players to represent their country and Vince really should have joined them as he was as good if not better than any winger in the England squad at the time.

But it wasn't to be. The upheaval around the club along with the offloading of the likes of Peter Nicholas, Kenny Sansom and Dave Swindlehurst put the club into a rut that it took the best part of a decade to recover from. Vince loyally soldiered on for Palace for another few seasons, and was often the only highlight of going to watch Palace during the darkest days of Alan Mullery's tenure.

Once Mullery left Vince decided he'd had enough. Even the appointment of one of England's best wingers of recent times as the new Palace manager couldn't persuade him to stay, despite Steve Coppell pleading with him and promising to make him an even better player, and he left for Luton in the close season.

For reasons that have never been clear, Vince's spell in Luton lasted only a couple of months before he went on to join his close friend Billy Gilbert at Portsmouth where he had a long and successful career and he eventually returned to Selhurst Park as an opposition player at the end of the 1985/86 season where he was duly sent off for throwing Andy Gray into the Main Stand.

The following season Pompey were promoted to the top flight and once again Vince was able to show off his mesmerising skills at the highest level, albeit for only a single season as Pompey were relegated at the first attempt.

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Later on as his Pompey contract ran down Vince was linked with a return to Selhurst Park and Steve Coppell confirmed his interest in bringing him back, but Leeds offered more money and he spent a couple of seasons there before winding his career down with Stoke and Exeter. A brief spell as joint manager of Waterlooville with Billy Gilbert followed, and Vince is now to be found doing matchday hospitality at Fratton Park.

It's very easy to look back upon our childhood heroes with rose tinted glasses. As children our brains are still in development and we gauge how good a footballer is by how exciting we find that player. Vince was nothing if he wasn't exciting. One of the most naturally skilled players ever to grace the Selhurst turf, he also had an aggressive streak which came to the fore most when he pushed the referee over during a game against Tottenham.

Would he have made it in the modern game? I like to think so. In fact if there's a modern day player who we could most compare to Vince, that player would be his successor on the flanks, Wilfried Zaha.

Training methods and tactics back in the 70s and 80s were rather primative - who's to say that if Vince had been given the same first class coaching as Wilf has, that he wouldn't be a star in the modern day game? I guess we'll never know.

One thing's for certain, though. Vince Hilaire is one of the most naturally gifted footballers I've ever seen and, along with my late father, he is the reason I became such an avid Palace fan in the first place.

Palace launched their new kits, and we're delighted with them. 

Stripes. You can only do so much with them. 

That's a statement that Steve Parish probably regrets somewhat. It came as Crystal Palace unveiled the kit that is now synonymous with Alan Pardew's managerial decline and Sam Allardyce's rescue act - a red shirt with a thick blue block (you can't call it a stripe) down the middle.

The idea, supposedly, was that if the players lined up alongisde each other they'd create one big red and blue striped mass. The result didn't match that. It was as if Palace wanted to be a red and blue Ajax. But stripes are Palace's colours. Not hoops, not blocks, not single colours. Red and blue stripes. 

Macron made amends with this season's kit, a traditional, simple red and blue shirt that, from the number of them worn in the stands on a matchday, seemed to be popular.

It was a fitting end to what has actually been a very good deal with the Italian kit manufacturer - Palace's kits have, on the whole, been excellent. The initial fears about quality were misplaced, and the training gear (especially this season) has been outstanding.

Wednesday's unveiling of Puma's new strips has been met with unanimous agreement - the designs are exactly what was wanted, with a touch of uniqueness and a classic verve too. 

While the headline design element is the striped fade on the home shirt, providing a gradient that goes from red to blue, the away kit is the one that drew the most attention among supporters. It's been a while since Palace have had a sash shirt, and the classic design is one which supporters love dearly.

Seeing the meeting of legends new and old, as Wilfried Zaha met with Vince Hillaire in the launch video (below), gave the kit launch a sense of continuity.

A passing of the torch. Zaha is this generation's Hillaire - direct, skillful, exciting - iconic. Zaha in a sash kit just seems right. 

Both shirts should be hugely popular. The colours are right. The designs are right. They're unique and interesting.  The kits are expected to go on sale in early July, and like the Macron kits before them are available in both skin-tight player fit and a more casual regular fit. 

Roy Hodgson has brought character back to a side that lacked it. Here's Robert Sutherland with a look at what has changed. 

Fighting adversity collectively builds a unitary strength among teams, bringing friendships and camaraderie to the forefront. The Crystal Palace of Roy Hodgson are a team - a unit ready to go to battle - freed from the shackles of individualism and personal glory.

It wasn't always like this. When you rid a team of leaders, you lose that glue. That cohesion which you work so hard to concoct can be so easily dissolved by removing those binding elements. Naivety can lead you to believe that the cohesive quality of a team is just a byproduct of tactics - but it gives an unquantifiable quality to a team's performance. You can't measure the contribution that it has, but you can see it. In performances. In belief. In the way players defend and stand up for each other.

When Frank de Boer determined that Luka Milivojevic would be better suited to a defensive role, and then dropped him from the team entirely, it appeared to suck the spirit out of the side. Players who had worked with such determination under Sam Allardyce just months before looked listless; lacking in leadership and lacking in unity. Wilfried Zaha, Palace's most important player, wasn't protected in the opening game against Huddersfield Town. Not just by the referee but by his own players -- instead, Zaha was given rough treatment and the players standing by his side allowed it to happen. Teams with a strong spirit work for each other but also defend one another.

When Alan Pardew ostracised Mile Jedinak, he didn't just rid the team of a defensive midfielder when it needed one, but he moved on a captain that lead by example, set standards, encouraged and invigorated teammates to run through walls that stood in the club's way. Promotion. Premier League safety. Cup runs. All of these things were achieved not just through tactics (because good management is the ultimate key to success) but through the building of bonds between players who otherwise would have had little in common. You don't just achieve by picking the best players, you do it by empowering all the players you have to contribute to each other - to the greater good.

It's where Roy Hodgson has excelled so valiantly. There aren't favourite players. There's a squad, and each of those players has a part to play. The players don't just work for themselves -- they work for each other.

This season hasn't just been one of a seven-game losing start. It's been one of injury-induced adversity that saw the side struggle through one of the busiest spells of the football calendar with, at times, just 12 recognised first-team players. Palace played matches without a striker. Without their best player. With barely a first-team centre-back to call upon. Those players who were fit were asked to play through exhaustion and minor injuries. It's this kind of challenge that builds strength. The players fighting on the pitch weren't just doing it for themselves, they were fighting for those who were injured.

One such player, Bakary Sako, so often maligned by previous managers and supporters, was brought into the fold and given the encouragement to make his mark. A player who kept being ignored suddenly started taking chances. His teammates responded. No longer was he just Sako the winger who couldn't make an impact, but he became Sako the goalscorer. Adversity comes in many shapes and sizes. But if you build a team spirit, a sense of overcoming the impossible can set in.

James Tomkins, so frequently sidelined with niggly injuries, has formed a formidable partnership with Mamadou Sakho -- and every clean sheet they shield the club towards helps to foster that bond between the players. It makes those minor injuries insignificant.

That collective spirit makes players accountable to each other, too. There were times under Pardew and De Boer that, in scenarios where players might be expected to throw themselves in front of the ball, didn't do so. Recent results have come as a consequence of exactly those kind of instances. You don't win games as individuals, you win them as a team.

Much has been said about Zaha's success this year; plenty of it in the same breath as comments about Palace being a one-man team because of his contribution to the side. Zaha is a core reason as to why Palace are playing Premier League football next season; but the team that stood behind him and enabled him to succeed deserve credit too. Zaha's success comes because other players are willing to put their bodies on the line. Willing to make space for him. Willing to stand up to his aggressors.

Team spirit is an all-encompassing thing. A team without it can wilt; it can look upon adversity as something destructive, rather than something enriching. Hodgson took the team by the scruff of the neck, drilled them into defending collectively, and fostered a team spirit that powered Palace to safety with games remaining. Seven defeats and multiple injuries weren't show-stoppers -- they were obstacles to overcome. Hodgson's team did that, with care for one another and an indomitable attitude.