Where did the money come from to launch the professional team?Why did it take Crystal Palace Company fully ten years of continuous effort to create Crystal Palace FC as a professional football club?Who were the men who championed the club¿s cause for a decade before it was formed?Who raised the money, and who owned the club?Who were the interesting characters who became founding-shareholders in Crystal Palace FC?What did Edmund Goodman really do for a living before he joined Palace?Why was Sydney Bourne¿s business prosecuted for mailing `indecent¿ newspapers?Why didn`t Palace apply to join the Football League in 1905?Who blocked Palace¿s application to join the Southern League and forced them into its Second Division?To what degree did the Crystal Palace Company control the actions of Crystal Palace FC?Volume 2 chronicles the Crystal Palace Company¿s battle with the Football Association for the affiliation of Crystal Palace FC as a professional club, which culminated in the club's near-disastrous, but ultimately successful launch in 1905.It reveals the amazing truth behind the cloak-and-dagger financing of Crystal Palace FC as a Limited Company in 1905 and shows who really owned the football club. Richly illustrated, the narrative follows the turbulent path of the fledgling professional Crystal Palace FC, the blood on the boardroom floor, Palace's rejection by rival London clubs, the shameless intrigue of Southern League and Football League politics, Palace's early success on the field and the gory details of Palace¿s hand-to-mouth existence between the years 1905 and 1909.Drawn entirely from primary sources, and five years in the writing, the book reveals fascinating biographic information about the men who became Palace¿s original directors, and about the continuing involvement of the Crystal Palace Company as it strove to earn a return from the football club which it created.