A local consortium, CPFC 2010, claim that is the deadline for them to secure Palace’s takeover or Agilo, the hedge fund which put the Championship club into administration in January, will begin selling players and dissolving the club. They said in a statement: “As we sit today, the future of Crystal Palace hangs in the balance.”
If they do go under, then the League would proceed with a 23-team Championship next season.
That would raise key questions about the number of Championship promotions and relegations and the structures of the subsequent lower divisions. Palace fans staged a passionate protest yesterday outside the club’s Selhurst Park ground, angered at the news the famous 105-year-old London club could go out of business.
The consortium’s bid to save them has stalled over the sale of Selhurst Park, which is currently under the control of separate administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers.
They are selling the ground on behalf of the Bank of Scotland and the sticking point seems to be an ‘anti-embarrassment’ clause in the deal, which would see the bank receive further money if the ground was sold in the future. CPFC 2010 said in a statement: “We have now reached agreement with Agilo regarding their debt against the club and did have what we thought was an agreement with the Bank of Scotland, who are the major creditors of Selhurst Park Ltd.
“Subsequent to this agreement, we have been sent a contract that does not reflect this agreement and is unworkable.”
The Football League are monitoring the situation and Crystal Palace administrator Brendan Guilfoyle, above, was not confident a deal could be struck in time. He said: “I need money. I’m millions of pounds behind. Staff weren’t paid on Friday, a number of them were made redundant, others were asked to carry on working for nothing.
“That’s not a situation I can allow to continue for long. So I’ve got to start selling players and, if I do that, the indications are that consortium 2010 will withdraw.
“Since they are the only party willing to acquire the club then there is a distinct possibility that, once I’ve sold the players, I’ll have to walk away and let the liquidation process continue.”
But last night PwC said in a statement: “Discussions are ongoing with the consortium and we are making good progress.”