Speroni to be a Palace fan for life

When the time comes for Crystal Palace legend Julian Speroni to hang up his gloves for good, the veteran keeper knows the first place he is going – straight back to Selhurst Park.

Speroni has spent 12 of his 37 years as a Crystal Palace player and even has a function room at the stadium named in his honour.

However, his game time for the Eagles has dwindled in recent years.

He is yet to feature this season and made just two Premier League appearances last term, in defeats at Manchester United and Southampton.

But the club is as dear to Speroni as ever and, when he retires, he plans to be a regular visitor to Selhurst Park.

(Oli Scaraff/AFP/Getty Images)

Speroni said: “I would definitely visit as a fan and would like to help the club in some way

“I don’t think too much about that right now, I’m still a player and I’m healthy and I want to carry on playing.

“I have a passion to play football, so I’m not thinking too much about that, but in the future I can’t see myself really being apart from Crystal Palace.

“I’ll always be close, I want to help the club to move forward and hopefully I’ll be able to do that.”