A dozen years ago Steve Coppell went back to his home city of Liverpool as the manager of Crystal Palace.

His team suffered a humiliating 9-0 drubbing at Anfield in front of his family and friends, but Coppell kept them in the old First Division.

A soul-destroying twelfth straight League defeat for Albion at his spiritual home, Selhurst Park, reminded Coppell of that Merseyside nightmare.

Sadly, the odds are stacked against this story having a similarly happy ending.

Back then Palace chairman Ron Noades pulled out his cheque book. Coppell spent the cash wisely, signing the likes of Andy Thorne and Eric Young.

Albion have no money, so Coppell will need to draw on his considerable skill in tight situations and his contacts to turn around the mess created by Dick Knight's summer madness.

He has started by adding some top flight experience to the squad in Dean Blackwell, who made his debut in the centre of defence, and Simon Rodger, who came off the bench for the final half-hour with Albion already 5-0 down.

Blackwell performed as well as could be expected in his first League appearance for 21 months.

Financial constraints limit Coppell to signings of this nature or young, relatively low wage earners on loan from Premiership clubs.

The only positive Coppell gleaned from Saturday's carnage was that "my players gave an awful lot of effort."

The fact that Albion tried their best and yet were so comprehensively outclassed is a damning indictment of the way the chairman handled affairs during the close season.

A heavy and humiliating price is being paid for the failure to act swiftly and decisively once Peter Taylor walked out.

New long-term contracts were awarded in the meantime to virtually the entire squad when a substantial injection of quality was required if Albion were going to be competitive in the First Division.

Hard work, as Saturday showed so starkly, is not in itself enough against the calibre of opposition the Seagulls are confronting week in and week out.

Nine of the side that won the Third Division two years ago were up against a Palace team containing five internationals, with two more on the bench, and crammed with First Division experience.

Should we really be surprised then that Albion, to use Coppell's words, "were found wanting?"

That they have been found wanting to such an extent has been exacerbated by an endless pattern of conceding soft goals, many of them early on or from the penalty spot.

In the build-up Coppell stressed the importance to his players of keeping a clean sheet in the first 20 minutes.

At 19 minutes past three they were 1-0 down, so near but actually so far. The kick-off had been delayed for a quarter of an hour due to crowd congestion.

Andrew Johnson jabbed Palace ahead from their fourth corner in as many minutes, a bombardment which unsettled Michel Kuipers and his defence.

Johnson, one of the smallest players on the pitch, was scandalously unmarked at the near post when he headed in another corner from substitute Dele Adebola, his former Birmingham colleague, ten minutes from the break.

"Even at half time I thought if we were nice and solid early on we would get our opportunities," Coppell said. Instead, Albion leaked three more goals in the space of six minutes, two of them penalties, and were reduced to ten men.

Recalled captain Danny Cullip must dislike Selhurst Park. He conceded a spot-kick there against Wimbledon in August and this time a foul on the surging Johnson was punished by Dougie Freedman.

The Seagulls' had no answer to Johnson's speed and movement. Paul Brooker, not noted for his tackling, made a desperate attempt to stop him which resulted in a red card for Albion's mild-mannered winger and a hat-trick clinching penalty for Palace's livewire striker.

Julian Gray, surrounded by defenders, still manufactured enough room to add the fifth with a powerful angled drive.

There was none of the controversy which accompanied the two penalties awarded to Sheffield United at Withdean a week earlier.

Coppell had no complaints about either decision or Brooker's dismissal, but he did about Albion's "schoolboy defensive errors."

He added: "What can we do? I'd love to say we are going to bid for Rio Ferdinand, but it's not going to happen.

"I've got to go out on the training field and work as hard as possible to try and tighten things up.

"I said to the players it reminded me so much of the Liverpool defeat. It was humiliating in many respects, but from there it's like an alcoholic.

"You've gone as low as you can and I hope we are on a programme of recovery, but it's almost as if the players are trying so hard now and are so desperate to turn things around that they are making more mistakes because of it."

Plenty of Albion fans probably turned to the bottle to deaden the pain after waiting 13 years for the resumption of hostilities with their arch rivals.

Unless the clangers are eradicated the run of defeats will climb to that same unlucky number against Bradford at Withdean on Saturday.

  • ALBION (4-4-2): Kuipers (gk) 5, Watson (rb) 5, Mayo (lb) 5, Cullip (cd) 5, Blackwell (cd) 5, Hart (rw) 5, Oatway (cm) 5, Brooker (lw) 5, Carpenter (cm), 5, Zamora (f) 5, Barrett (f) 5. Subs: Keeley, Rogers for Oatway (withdrawn 59), Marney for Barrett (withdrawn 74), Hinshelwood, Rodger for Carpenter (withdrawn 59). Sent off: Brooker (55) foul. Bookings: Hart (82) foul.
  • CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-2): Kolinko; Granville, Butterfield, Popovic, Mullins, Johnson, Freedman, Derry, Gray, Routledge, Powell. Subs: Michopoulos, Riihilahti, Black for Johnson (withdrawn 75), Rubins for Granville (withdrawn 58), Adebola for Routledge (injured 31). Scorers: Johnson (4), (35), (55) pen, Freedman (51) pen, Gray (57). Bookings: Powell (16) foul, Mullins (65) foul.
  • Referee: P.Walton (Northants).
  • Venue: Selhurst Park.
  • Attendance: 21,976.
  • Pitch conditions: Excellent.
  • Weather: Crisp and sunny.
  • Fan's view, from Darren Pollard, Broadwater "Firstly I would like to start by thanking Dick Knight for his mismanagement of the club during the summer which enabled the Albion to have taken so many passionate supporters away only for them to have been totally humiliated with the performance offered by the team.

"This will quite simply take years to live down. Somehow I don't think certain people knew what this game means to the fans. 10/10 for the support, but 0/10 for what we saw on the field.

"The defence was abysmal and the midfield were over-run. In short, Palace completely dominated the game in all departments. So come on Mr Chairman, where do we go from here?"