The Eagle Has Landed

“I had half-an-hour to make a decision, and it felt like being run over by a lorry.”

 

Attilio Lombardo’s brief stint with Crystal Palace had its difficult moments; holding no previous managerial experience Lombardo was abruptly appointed player-coach in 1998, prised with the task of keeping Palace in the Premiership.  To make matters worse the Palace board chose to appoint the plump and ineffective Swedish has been Thomas Brolin as Lombardo’s translator.

Limited to only 48 appearances in a Palace shirt, a result of injuries and Palace’s administrative demands to cut their losses on a player earning 15,000-a-week, Lombardo moved on to Sven Goran Eriksson’s Lazio in January 1999. Yet the Italian is still regarded amongst Palace fans as a club legend for his willingness to fight the cause and technical ability which was often lost on a squad destined for relegation.

With Gianfranco Zola and Gianluca Vialli, a fellow teammate during his time at Sampdoria, already part of the Italian insurgency at Chelsea Lombardo opted for South London in August 1997. He had been released by a strong Juventus side that was reluctant to gamble on an ageing and injury prone player with the likes of Antonio Conte and Zinedine Zidane at their disposal.

Lombardo’s arrival sparked mass excitement at the newly promoted club who were desperate to secure a star signing; the red Ferrari lighting up Selhurst Park’s not so attractive car park, an instant, convenient nickname in the ‘Bald Eagle’ and the No. 7 shirt ready to boost shop sales.  With Lombardo’s arrival pre-season hopes of survival gathered momentum.

Pace was not Lombardo’s forte but the finesse and vision which he offered Palace was on show throughout his short stay. Lombardo’s league debut against Everton sufficed the hype surrounding his arrival, his goal setting Palace on their way to an opening day victory away to Everton. A second away win followed, with Lombardo’s goal wrapping up an impressive 2 – 0 victory against Leeds.

A calm head, it wasn’t long before he started dictating matches in the Premier League and another vital goal came in a 1-0 win against Wimbledon. His presence installed a confidence in the side and everybody wanted to come and watch him play. Palace’s record attendance at home that season came against Chelsea with the Eagles flying high in September, a sell out crowd of 26,186. Had Lombardo stayed fit, Palace’s season could have taken a very different path.

An injury sustained whilst on international duty with Italy in November sidelined Lombardo for a substantial period of time. Palace never recovered from the loss of their influential playmaker; the likes of Sasa Curcic and Simon Rodgers were defensively astute but lacked the creativity going forward at the highest level. Palace dropped from 10^th at the time of his injury into the relegation zone after a dire January.

Ron Noades’s sale of the club to make Mark Goldberg was finalised in the New Year and Steve Coppell was removed from his position as manager. Despite his lack of English Lombardo was offered the player-manager role by Goldberg at short notice, famously declaring that it was like being hit by a lorry. Lombardo still took the role and worked hard but to no avail to change Palace’s fortunes.

In an interview with the Palace Echo in 2001 Lombardo said ‘for two months I was manager and we were already certain of relegation. However in England they’re not stressed, Sacchi would’ve had no problems’; a far cry from the cut throat managerial world of now. Indeed not much was ever expected of Lombardo and as Palace’s worrying form continued Ron Noades was placed as caretaker-manager until the end of the season. Able to focus on his football Lombardo scored a couple more goals during the campaign, including a unusual burst of pace and naturally composed finish to put Palace 3-1 up against West Ham, a game they still went on to draw.

Enthused by his first season in English football Lombardo stayed on with the administration stricken Eagles for a second season, a testament of his affection for the club. But Mark Goldberg’s decision to bring Terry Venables back to the Palace helm didn’t pay off and Lombardo was reluctantly forced to leave for financial reasons.

Lombardo’s presence during a dark period in the club's history was a small but welcome relief and his brilliance had a great enough impact on the fans for them to vote him into the Palace Centenary XI.  Now reserve team coach at Manchester City, Lombardo’s expertise is being put to good use.