Crystal Palace are into their ninth consecutive campaign as a Premier League club which just shows what an excellent job the Eagles have done in rebuilding after a turbulent period in the 2009/10 campaign.

During that 2009/10 season, there was a genuine concern over the long-term future of Crystal Palace before they were eventually bought and rescued by a consortium headed by Steve Parish in June 2010.

The Eagles as a result of all of their off-the-field issues were handed a ten points deduction midway through the 2009/10 campaign after entering into administration and that plunged them right into the thick of a relegation battle.

In the end, Crystal Palace managed to just about survive in the Championship that season with a 2-2 draw in a dramatic final day relegation decider against Sheffield Wednesday enough to keep them up.

Since then, Palace earned promotion to the top-flight via the play-offs in 2013 and have stayed there ever since.

One player that perhaps gets forgotten about by supporters for the role he played during that infamous 2009/10 season is forward Freddie Sears.

In the summer of 2009, Neil Warnock was keen on securing a loan deal with West Ham to take Sears on loan for the duration of the campaign.

Despite some interest from elsewhere, the Hammers agreed to allow Palace to take him on a season-long loan deal during the summer window.

Sears arrived at Selhurst Park with a burgeoning reputation, after he had been handed the chance to impress in the Premier League in the previous season and made 17 league appearances for West Ham.

It did not take long for the forward to be involved in a moment of real controversy in a Palace shirt, with Sears seemingly having netted his first goal for the club against Bristol City only for the officials to somehow miss the ball crossing the line and hitting the stanchion before bouncing back out of the goal.

Despite some lively displays, Sears failed to register a goal during his time with Crystal Palace and he even missed a penalty in a 4-0 defeat to Scunthorpe United.

By the end of December 2009, West Ham recalled the forward back to the club early from his loan spell to relieve the pressure on their squad amid a crisis of injuries upfront.

Sears was eventually sent back out on loan by West Ham to Coventry City for the rest of the 2009/10 season in February and he ended up making ten golless league appearances for the Sky Blues.

Over the next two seasons, West Ham loaned Sears out to both Scunthorpe United, where he made just nine league appearances without scoring in the 2010/11 season, and then Colchester United where he netted twice in 11 appearances in 2011/12.

He had also scored two goals for West Ham in 15 appearances during the 2010/11 season in all competitions as well and made another 12 appearances for the Hammers the following year.

West Ham cut ties with Sears in the summer of 2012 and he joined Colchester on a permanent deal. The forward spent two-and-a-half successful seasons with them scoring 36 goals in 109 appearances.

 

 

That came before Ipswich Town decided to make a move for him in the winter window during the 2014/15 season after he had scored 14 goals for Colchester in the first half of that term.

Sears went on to score nine league goals in 21 appearances to help Ipswich reach the play-offs in that 2014/15 season as he showed his potential to develop into a quality Championship player.

Overall, Sears spent six-and-a-half seasons with Ipswich in which time he managed to score 34 goals in 218 appearances. However, despite scoring six times in 24 games in 2018/19, the forward could not help his side avoid relegation to League One.

The attacker left Ipswich in the summer at the end of his deal and re-joined Colchester for his third spell with the club. So far this term, Sears has managed to fire home three goals and provided one assist in his ten League Two appearances.

At the age now of 31, Sears’ career has perhaps not reached the heights it once threatened it could do, but he still has managed to play a key role during a near seven-year spell with Ipswich and continues to be a key figure at Colchester in his third spell.