I was no angel but now my Wembley dream can come true
JASON PUNCHEON ON DEALING WITH HIS ATTITUDE PROBLEM
JASON PUNCHEON was born little more than a mile from Selhurst Park in Croydon’s Mayday Hospital and spent his childhood living directly opposite Crystal Palace’s ground. The house where he lived with his grandmother and mother was so close the young Puncheon would be sent out with two cones on a matchday to stop fans parking outside the door.
Today, in the FA Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley, the 29-year-old has the chance to complete the ultimate fairytale of the local boy done good.
‘My first house was on Clifton Road, literally round the corner from the stadium,’ he says. ‘I lived there with my mum and nan until I was four before we moved. I grew up around this club.
‘We used to see it every Saturday. My nan sent me out with two cones and scaffolding to make sure no one parked outside the house! I have to drive past my old house every Saturday. You reminisce, of course you do. You think about everything — even the old sweet shop I used to run to.
‘I used to be round the Selhurst Park area all the time, playing football down the park with your mates — dreaming about playing in the FA Cup or World Cup final.
‘This game is about making dreams come true.’
The Puncheons are ingrained in Palace. Jason’s mum, Audrey, worked at Selhurst Park for a period and Jason played for Palace’s academy before joining Wimbledon on YTS terms. Former Palace chairman Ron Noades watched an eight-year- old Puncheon playing for Melwood FC against his club’s Under 9 side.
‘ We beat them 14- 1,’ Puncheon recalls with a smirk. ‘ So Ron decided to sign every single one of our players.’
Now, 20 years later he is back at Palace, on the verge of capping a triumphant homecoming. It has been a long journey. After leaving Wimbledon in 2006, Puncheon dropped out of the Football League — joining non-League Fisher Athletic.
The 29- year- old is convinced he possessed the ability to play top-flight football as a teenager, but concedes he did not always have the attitude to match. Football’s a small world, too, and it doesn’t take much for mud to stick. Puncheon found that out first hand. Perhaps he hasn’t helped himself, either. He was arrested in 2006 in connection with a robbery in Croydon, although he was never convicted.
‘The only doubt I may have if I was to finish my career now, would be to question where I would have been at 18 or 19 if I had the mindset I have now,’ he says. ‘Did I have the right attitude? Probably not. I’m not going to sit here and say I was an angel. But it’s learning curves. I’ve made mistakes, but who doesn’t? Even if you work in a supermarket you make mistakes, but in football it’s highlighted. ‘Football is one of those things, you get stigmatised. Managers have an opinion of you and they stick by it. ‘Everyone talks this and that about you, everyone has an opinion on you. That’s the beauty of football, it’s about opinions. ‘But it’s whose opinion counts — that’s the difference. ‘But I don’t feel like I’ve been given a rough ride. The path my career has taken is down to my choices and I believe football is about reward. ‘Only you can create that reward. You can’t blame anybody for anything.’ Puncheon is comfortable with the ‘journeyman footballer’ tag. The journey has taken him to Wembley after all, and those days of playing for Barnet, Ply- mouth, Millwall and MK Dons are behind him. Now he has the chance to win one of the biggest prizes. He said: ‘I wouldn’t class my career as struggle. It’s been a great learning curve, the route that I have taken. I cherish the moments I have now. I think it has stood me in good stead.’
YOUfeel he will need to draw on his raft of experience if Palace are to beat United today. Puncheon accepts his side are huge underdogs but insists it is a tag that suits Alan Pardew’s team. Much like 26 years ago when Palace and United clashed in the 1990 FA Cup final.
Puncheon was four and has no recollection of the match or the Cup final fever that gripped Croydon but has watched videos of the game.
Reminders of Palace’s last FA Cup final are never too far away, after all. Pardew and first-team coach John Salako played in the 3-3 draw against Sir Alex Ferguson’s side before Palace lost 1-0 in the replay. Puncheon has also formed a close bond with the Wright family over the years, and striker Ian scored twice for Palace at Wembley in the first clash. So is tomorrow about revenge? Puncheon’s response in unequivocal.
‘It’s not about revenge. It’s two different eras,’ he says. ‘You can gather as much info as you can about 1990. Mark Bright is often here, Salako and the gaffer. But we are in a different day and age now, a different climate.
‘Of course, being a local lad it means a lot to me. But if you’re local or come from Manchester, it’s the FA Cup final. Just because I’m from round here doesn’t mean it means more to me than anyone else.
‘When you look at our dressing room many may not get the chance again.
‘I don’t have any medals, I don’t think there’s many in our dressing room who have. We’ve got a chance to make history, this club hasn’t won anything for years — it’s down to us to change that.’