Hmm. Good thread, and I find myself sympathising with both sides! Like most posters I disagree with Ward's opinion, but in some respects we do sound like a load of people who lived through WW2 moaning that the younger generation don't hate Jerry as much as we do: "I remember the blitz, you had to be there, these bloody youngsters don't giver a toss ... etc, etc"
However it is worth remembering that for older fans the Palace rivalry is 'new'. We used to hate Reading, Fulham and Bourenmouth long before we hated Palace. Ward (like some Palace fans) wants to move on. I disagree but fair enough.
I would be more upset if he wrote an article saying something like "Who is the Bill Archer bloke? Surely we belittle ourselves by still hating him? What did he do that was so bad? After all if he hadn't sold the Goldstone we would never have got a new stadium". That would be the equivalent of a favorable revisionist approach to Hitler.
However it is worth remembering that for older fans the Palace rivalry is 'new'. We used to hate Reading, Fulham and Bourenmouth long before we hated Palace. Ward (like some Palace fans) wants to move on. I disagree but fair enough.
I would be more upset if he wrote an article saying something like "Who is the Bill Archer bloke? Surely we belittle ourselves by still hating him? What did he do that was so bad? After all if he hadn't sold the Goldstone we would never have got a new stadium". That would be the equivalent of a favorable revisionist approach to Hitler.