VOLUME 3: OFF SEASON
June 1st, 2017
The first week of June arrived not with a bang, but with the quiet, contented hum of a city stirring to life. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, I woke without the gut-wrenching anxiety of a relegation battle or the adrenaline hangover of a season finale.
The past ten days had been a whirlwind. Manchester United's demolition of Ajax in Stockholm on May 24th had been the final, glorious confirmation, the starting gun for a week of city-wide celebration.
The words Crystal Palace in Europe had been plastered across every newspaper, sung in every pub in South London, and echoed in the disbelieving, joyous calls from my own mother. The storm had passed. The miracle was complete. And now, there was only a strange, beautiful calm.
