Albion ambassador Alan Mullery has played down the rivalry with Crystal Palace, which will be reignited in the New Year in the FA Cup.

The clubs face each other again in the third round in the first weekend in January after last week’s 0-0 draw in the Premier League at the Amex, which was marred by crowd disorder.

Mullery, Albion’s manager when the rivalry was sparked by an FA Cup trilogy in 1976 against Palace under Terry Venables, told The Argus: “To me it’s just another team that you are going to play.

“Liverpool have got Everton.

“You come out of the hat, do your best to win the game and go further on.

“The things that happened on the day (last week) were outrageous. There was stuff taking place and it ended up being a dull game.

“We are talking about supporters against supporters - it’s absolutely ridiculous.

It’s all evolved from many years ago with Venables and me and that was it.

“It’s so long ago. Half the people who were booing and doing this and that weren’t even born.

“For me it is out of the window, it doesn’t mean anything at all to me.”

Under FA rules Palace are entitled to 15% of the Amex capacity - around 4,000 tickets - but their allocation will probably be restricted.

The clubs agreed a reciprocal limit of 2,000 away fans for their Premier League meetings.

Discussions began yesterday between Albion and Palace, the FA and police. The tie is likely to kick-off early, irrespective of the possibility of live TV coverage.