Wilfried Zaha came through the ranks of Crystal Palace’s youth setup. Disregarding the two years he spent on the books of Manchester United, where he managed just two appearances, he has spent the entirety of his career at Selhurst Park.
Wilfried Zaha told the club’s website: “The reason I started it is it gives the kids something to strive for. You go to the academy and hopefully as the academy grows we can give them an opportunity to flourish and be a feeder for these [professional] clubs so they can hopefully have a career of their own.
“Me being moany and whatever, that’s me on the pitch, that’s me being passionate and wanting to win. If I come across as a bad person, so be it. But I know deep down I’m not a bad person. If you know me off the pitch, if you know what I stand for and how I am you’d understand my whole [reason] why I do these things..
“I’ve been at Palace for a long time but I feel like they’re the only team that back their players through thick and thin. They remember. I still have fans who tell me they love me because of the [2012/13] promotion season, the goals against Brighton, Watford, those are things that stay in people’s minds.
“At other clubs they’ve won so many things it’s like: ‘I don’t care, I want the next one.’ But you don’t know how much it takes to do these things.
“Appreciation goes a long way. Obviously when people have that, their memory, yesterday doesn’t matter. It makes such a difference. Seeing your own fans scream at you to ‘get out my club’ and stuff is not nice for a footballer. Having fans support you 100% makes a difference.”
