CRYSTAL Palace manager Dougie Freedman has pledged the club will do everything they can to help former player Geoff Thomas raise awareness for Leukaemia and Lymphoma research.

Thomas, who captained the Eagles in the 1990 FA Cup final, was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2003, a year after retiring from the game.

Since recovering, the former England star has done numerous charity events to raise awareness, including cycling 2,200 miles in 21 days, the entire stages of the Tour De France route, raising more than £150,000 for Leukaemia Research in the process.

Thomas was back at Selhurst Park at the weekend to help promote the Give Blood Cancer the Red Card scheme where fans are encouraged to donate through a simple text message to give £2 towards the UK charities work.

There is no doubt the Palace fans will do all they can to help a former playing hero and Freedman has promised the club will do anything needed in partnership with Thomas to help raise awareness further.

“Geoff deserves all the money for the charity to run it the right way and we will help him however we can and that is what we are going to do,” explained the manager.

“He can come back here anytime and we will help as much as we can, we are going to do everything for him and get us much publicity for him as we can because that is what we do best at this club.

“We will put a game on for him where it may be a young Palace team versus an older one with ex-Palace players. We want to get it arranged because Geoff wants it to happen and we will try and do that because we are a family club, we stick together and that is probably what is helping us get through this sticky period.”

To donate £2 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma research, text Geoff to 70099 or visit beatbloodcancers.org