Ask Crystal Palace fans which of their former players they admire the most and the likelihood is that the name Darren Ambrose will pop up somewhere in conversation. 

The midfielder originally arrived at Selhurst Park in the summer of 2009 from their South London rivals Charlton Athletic on a free transfer as a somewhat unknown quantity for many.

Indeed the Harlow born player had played well over 100 games for the Addicks, so it will have been a bit of a tough hit to take for many Charlton fans when he made the decision to head further south in the capital.

And it proved to be an excellent decision by Palace to snap him up on such a cheap deal, with Ambrose going on to become a firm fan favourite as he netted 37 goals in his 124 appearances for the the Eagles over a period of three seasons.

These goals included memorable strikes against the likes of Sheffield Wednesday to keep the club in the Championship, Aston Villa in what was an FA Cup classic and perhaps his most famous and well known blockbuster against Manchester United away in the League Cup at Old Trafford as his piledriver helped the Eagles to seal an unlikely 2-1 victory over the Red Devils.

It was therefore a very sad time for many a Palace fan in the summer of 2012 when Ambrose left to join Birmingham City for a fee in the region of £250,000.

However Ambrose's spell with the Blues was both short lived and largely disrupted by constant injuries as he went on to play a part in just 10 games for the Midlands outfit, whilst he also embarked on an unexpected loan spell with Greek club Apollon Smyrnis in 2014.

Ambrose was eventually released by the Blues at the end of the 2013/14 campaign and went on to resign for his former club Ipswich Town as a free agent.

But once again he struggled to make an impact with the Tractor Boys and eventually left the club for another local side in Colchester United after making just eight appearances at Portman Road.

His spell with the U's was far more fruitful and in the end he went on to rack up 26 appearances and four goals for the League One side as they were sadly relegated to League Two.

Ambrose was then not offered a contract by the club before going on to retire from playing in the summer of 2016.

He then went on to open a barbers shop alongside doing some work for Ipswich's academy.