A chance for Man United to salvage silver from the wreckage of the Louis Van Gaal era

One is supposed to approach an FA Cup final in a spirit of Corinthian sportsmanship, so permit me the indulgence of starting with some fence-mending bonhomie.

A few years ago, I carelessly described Crystal Palace in these pages as: “a suburban joke of a club...where nothing of interest has happened since Malcolm Allison bowled up for a spell in charge, the most incongruous partnership since Elizabeth Taylor married her builder.”

A miffed James Murphy, leader of the Clonakilty Super Eagles Massive, was sufficiently unamused to pen a missive of complaint which the editor suggested I might care to address.