Packing a Punch: Starring on both sides of a South London derby

This interview was originally conducted in February 2025, and was first published in last season's Crystal Palace v Millwall FA Cup fifth-round programme.

Tickets for Tuesday night's South London derby remain on sale to all paid Members and Season Ticket holders (up to four tickets per client reference number) for the match, with more information here.

Jason Puncheon was always made for the big occasion.

In his time at Selhurst Park, the Croydon-born midfielder played a huge role in cementing Crystal Palace’s status as an established Premier League club.

Along the way he showed, numerous times, an ability to step up and make an impact in the biggest games. The memories include the day he became the first Palace player to register three Premier League assists in a single game, at West Ham, in a vital 3-1 win at Upton Park.

The late stunner against Norwich that ended a winless run in the league and pulled the Eagles away the relegation dogfight in 2016.

His fine free-kick on the way to a 3-1 victory over Liverpool, in Steven Gerrard’s farewell match at Anfield.

Simply put, Puncheon was a player who knew how to turn a match. And, as those present will remember, one night the Eagles were actually on the receiving end of a knockout Punch.

When Millwall and Palace met at the Den back on New Year’s Day 2011, the visitors were struggling at the wrong end of the Championship. Millwall, by contrast, had just received an unexpected boost.

“Funnily enough, I was actually meant to be moving to Crystal Palace at that time,” Puncheon recalls. “It was lined up, but the manager at the time, George Burley, I don’t think thought I was good enough.

“I was close to going to Palace three times before I eventually did. So, this time I ended up going to Millwall. Back then I was at Southampton but was out of the side.

“A loan seemed a good move, and to be fair that was the first time I had really played in the Championship regularly. I played more in League One and Two at that stage of my career.

“I managed to score the winner on my Millwall debut [away against Middlesbrough] and it all just went from there. Then we play Palace, and everything I hit went in! I scored a hat-trick and got a standing ovation.

"Strangely, I think it might have opened up the Palace fans eyes to having me on their radar, perhaps thinking ‘Jason Puncheon is there doing well, and he’s a local boy.’”

Millwall won 3-0, with the Eagles seemingly in freefall. The result left Palace in the Championship relegation zone, three points adrift from safety

It proved to be a seminal moment for both sides. It was George Burley’s final game in charge as manager, which proved the route to Dougie Freedman taking charge.

Meanwhile, Puncheon had made his mark and was temporarily a Millwall hero. “It sounds strange, because obviously I’m a Palace man – it was my hometown club – but from my own experience I can’t say a bad word about Millwall.

“It was a great atmosphere in the dressing room, they had some real fighters in there and Kenny Jackett was a great manager. For a while after I thought it was a shame I didn’t get to work with him longer.”

Thankfully for the Eagles, Jackett and Millwall weren’t able to sign Puncheon permanently: “After the hat-trick, the price went too high!” he smiles, reflecting on the sliding doors moment.

Instead, Puncheon stayed at Southampton and got into the side. But when the Saints decided to let him go in the summer of 2013, he wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to return to South London.

“I was in pre-season with Southampton,” Puncheon says. “I wasn’t thinking for sure I’d be leaving. But I was in a 50-50 situation with the coach at the time, Mauricio Pochettino.

“Then I saw Pochettino – he told me; ‘Look, Crystal Palace want you, and if you want to go, you can go. My rule in football was, when a coach says that to you, it’s time to leave.

“I always felt it was my destiny to play for Crystal Palace at some stage. It was my hometown club. I just didn’t know when it would be.”

What started as another loan move, in the 2013/14 season, would become the best spell of Puncheon’s career – not to mention one of the greatest eras in Palace club history.

But the man himself says that first season in SE25 was as good as anything he experienced, and, in his opinion, goes under the radar.

“I think that first year in the Premier League remains the standout,” explained Puncheon. “To stay in the league the way we did, it was a massive, massive achievement.

“People always say to me the FA Cup in 2016 [reaching the final] but I think my biggest achievement was in that first season.

“I don’t think it gets the credit it should, because without that season we wouldn’t have been able to go and get the calibre of players we got down the line.

“We only had a few players at the start who actually had Premier League experience, then we got the likes of Scott Dann in January. But everybody wrote us off. That team did so well.

“And the team spirit was amazing. That’s easy when you’re at the top, but harder when you’re fighting relegation.”

As the team developed at rapid rate over the seasons that followed, Puncheon remained a calming, consistent presence for the Eagles.

He was also someone who could always chip in with a goal when needed – in 2014/15, only forwards Dwight Gayle and Glenn Murray scored more for Palace.

Puncheon became such a focal point of the team that he would eventually captain Palace in 2017, taking over the armband from Dann.

“That moment [to captain the team] gave me great pride,” he adds. “I do also think that I always felt like a captain, because I was a leader in the dressing room right from when I arrived.

“But when you get the armband it’s almost like rubber-stamping it to say; ‘This guy is a leader, we trust him’. It wasn’t so much that I was from the area, I just think when I got a bit older I wanted to lead by example.

“From when I was at Southampton, I think I learned a lot about leadership as they had some real leaders in that side.

"I always wanted to bring that to Palace.”

Match Details

Crystal Palace v Millwall

• Tuesday, 16th September
• 20:00 BST
• Carabao Cup
• Selhurst Park
• Live audio commentary on Palace TV+.

Tickets for Tuesday night's South London derby remain on sale to all paid Members and Season Ticket holders (up to four tickets per client reference number) for the match, with more information here.