Crystal Palace's emotional Jedinak ceremony: 'He drove the team and probably drove me'

Mile Jedinak has been presented with a special award by Crystal Palace among emotional tributes from the club for their iconic former skipper.

Jedinak's decision to join the Aston Villa coaching staff and subsequent club retirement has been met with a mixture of disappointment and adulation from Palace, many fans of which are chastising their club for not recruiting him for themselves.

Crystal Palace's chairman led the tributes to the former Socceroos and Selhurst captain, presenting Jedinak with the club's Chairman award.

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“[Jedinak] is a very special player, a very special person," Palace chairman Steve Parish said. "He’s just retired from the game.

"When he arrived he came to us from Turkey, I think we had to pay the princely sum of £50,000 to secure his services. From the moment he arrived, he was a massive, massive presence at the club.

"He drove the team and probably drove me. Sometimes Mile was most unhappy when we’d won - in the dressing room afterwards. [He had] such high standards that he expected of himself and everybody around him.

"Promotions are won on the pitch but they’re also won with the attitude: 46 games, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday. And nobody had a better attitude, nobody was more robust, nobody drove everybody on, expected more from everybody and delivered more himself than Mile Jedinak. It’s an absolute privilege and a pleasure to give him an award."

Jedinak left open a return to Palace in a coaching capacity at some stage while returning his thanks to the club that made his Premier League career, having led the club to promotion in 2013.

"I always got immersed in everything Crystal Palace is and Crystal Palace will always be," he said.

"There’s a big spot there for me, and my family, for that matter. They all know and we all know the importance of Crystal Palace in my journey and, without it, it looks totally different.

"To play alongside that [Crystal Palace squad], to be part of it, to captain them, to be teammates, to be mates, to be friends… this group was really, really special. It was all a fantastic privilege for me.

"I have enjoyed every single moment, all the obstacles, all the challenges, thrived in the environment. The next chapter is yet to be written, but only time will tell."