Boyce signed for Luton Town as a 16-year-old having played for their School of Excellence from the age of 12, where he played alongside future Palace defender Matthew Upson.
He made his debut in 1999 aged 19, and professional football came as a rude awakening. Walsall ran out as comfortable 3-0 winners, with Luton – Boyce starting in defence alongside a certain Sean Dyche, who was making his debut for the Hatters – left unimpressed.
“Whenever I talk to younger players, I always bring that story up,” Boyce, speaking to Luton Today, remembered years later. “Because first game for the first team, Jason Brissett got the ball, ran straight past me, they scored straight away.
“I think it was in the first 10 minutes, then he did it again and we were 2-0 down. I remember the headlines the next days were ‘men against boys.’
“It was a big learning curve for me, right at the start of my career, basically get tight to your winger and don’t let him do anything, and that stayed with me for my whole career.
“It was a great learning curve and a baptism of fire straight away. I had to rebuild my character and get back into the team as a young boy and thankfully I did that.”
Sure enough, he learned from his mistakes and – despite playing just once more that season – his Luton career took off the following year, as he played 35 times in all competitions. The next season, the Hatters won promotion back to the third tier.
In 2002/03, he won Luton’s Players’ Player, Supporters’ Player and Internet Player of the Year awards – but when his contract expired in 2004, he headed for south London.
His start to life at Palace in 2004/05 wasn’t exactly as he had planned.
“I left Luton Town thinking that I’m signing for Crystal Palace, despite a few Championship clubs being interested in me,” he told cpfc.co.uk many years later. “But the lure of Palace and the Premier League was too good to turn down.
“It was a weird first couple of weeks, though, because I went to Palace thinking that I’m signing for them. However, I was in the Training Ground canteen and it came up on Sky Sports that: ‘Emmerson Boyce is on trial at Crystal Palace!’
“I’d been traveling from Aylesbury for two weeks – a good two-hour journey – thinking that I’m signing for Palace. And by now I’d turned down all the other clubs and told them I’m joining Palace so there’s no other options!
“For two weeks, every day in the canteen people are coming up to me and telling me that so-and-so isn’t in today so we can’t do the contract.”
Boyce was, of course, so much more than a trialist, evidenced by his Premier League and Palace debut: a 1-1 draw away at Carrow Road.
The now-44-year-old – appointed Technical Director of Barbados’ two years ago, and who this month took charge of his country in this month’s CONCACAF Nations League matches – fondly recollected that 90 minutes later down the line: “The pride I felt at pulling on the Palace shirt was amazing.
“And I then also felt pride because – and I hope people don’t disagree – that I handled [former Leeds United and Manchester City striker] Darren Huckerby well that day, which was really something of a baptism of fire for a Premier League debut.”
Soon he progressed from trialist to squad member, squad member to key player, key player to Player of the Year winner in 2005/06.
He recalled: “If anything, the time in the Championship was the most disappointing when you look at the team on paper – people like Clinton Morrison, Andy Johnson and Wayne Routledge stayed. We should’ve bounced straight back up.
“We had such a good team. We didn’t really perform and unfortunately came up against a very good Watford team in the play-off semi-finals.”
Despite the team’s disappointing end to their campaign, on a personal level for Boyce it was a special one. It’s a season Boyce thanks Iain Dowie for: “Iain Dowie, I can’t speak highly enough of him,” he says.
“There’s always one manager that truly believes in you and that was him. He put faith in me, told me to go out and play my game. That Championship season is the period I feel I was my fittest and strongest.”
Boyce left in 2006 to join Wigan Athletic, with whom he stayed until 2015, winning an FA Cup in the process.
https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/club/played-for-both-crystal-palace-luton-town-emmerson-boyce/
