Croydon Common, a once significant Southern League club that folded in 1917, won the Surrey Herald Cup in 1905. The trophy had been competed for since 1889-90 but never again. Perhaps because the competition was discontinued? Or perhaps because the cup was ‘spirited away’?

In Alan Futter’s wonderfully comprehensive history of Croydon Common, he tells of how the trophy finally came home. A club official appears to have taken it to Canada in 1912, and in the 1980s a descendant posted it back to Crystal Palace in the mistaken belief that the two clubs were connected. The Palace historian, the late Rev Nigel Sands, contacted Alan as the honorary historian of the extinct club and handed the trophy over – so, very well saved!