Joel Ward has said Crystal Palace must continue to push forward or risk getting left behind by the rest of the Premier League. In his debut season, the former Arsenal midfielder guided the club to a 12th-placed finish and Ward believes that the team has to ‘evolve’ or face a tough season with other club’s continuing to improve.
Joel Ward said: “I certainly think there has been that transition. If you get caught standing still for too long you’re in danger, so to continue to evolve, move and adapt is vitally important in the Premier League. You’ve got to move with it. I think we’ve got a great mix, and we showed that last year in the style and the way we played. There were lessons learnt from last season, but we need to kick on and strive to raise the bar.”
Crystal Palace have come a long way since earning promotion via the Championship play-offs in 2012-13, beating Watford 1-0, and have remained in England’s top-flight ever since. The club spent this pre-season in Australia, playing Manchester United at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with more than 75,000 watching. When Ward first joined, he made his debut against Exeter City in the League Cup in front of just 3,365 fans, a stark contrast to the crowd a decade later.
Joel Ward said: “It’s what dreams are made of, right? I don’t think anyone thought we were going to go on and do what we have done. Especially in that year [2012/13]. Maybe there was a plan to do so, but to achieve it in the time that we achieved it was something pretty special. Then to remain in the Premier League for that amount of time is something that the club has never done as well, so it’s been record-breaking in many different ways.”
