May 31 2010

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace face going bust unless a deal to buy the club can be completed on Tuesday afternoon.

Consortium CPFC 2010 say they have until 3pm to buy the club or Agilo, the hedge fund which put Palace into administration in January, will sell the players to get their money back.

The sticking point has been over the purchase of Selhurst Park which is under the control of separate administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers, who are selling the ground on behalf of Bank of Scotland.

There is an issue over a clause that would see the bank receive further money if the ground was sold on in the future for something like housing.

A statement from CPFC 2010 read: "As you are aware we are endeavoring to acquire both Crystal Palace Football club and Selhurst Park. Everyone would agree Selhurst Park is pivotal to the long-term future of the club and CPFC2010 have always made it clear that they will not proceed without securing it.

"We have now reached agreement with Agilo regarding their debt against the club and did have what we thought was an agreement with Bank of Scotland who are the major creditor of Selhurst Park Ltd. Subsequent to this agreement we have been sent a contract that does not reflect this agreement and is unworkable.

"CPFC 2010 value Selhurst park as a football ground but have agreed to pay a significant premium on that. We also recognize that a property developer may pay even more for the ground on the chance that they may be able to change its use sometime in the future. The bank have made it clear that they want to help the club and don’t want to sell to a property developer now but are worried we may sell the land for development in the future, making a profit and embarrassing the bank in the process.

"In order to put their minds at rest we have also agreed to an ‘anti embarrassment’ clause that allows the Bank to see a further return if we realize greater value from the ground in the future. In essence we need clarity on what that amount should be and how it is calculated.

"At the moment it seems the Bank want to make unlimited return in the future even if that value is created on the back of the success of the football club or money we have invested in a new infrastructure and not in appreciation of the value of the land. We believe that the maximum they should make is the difference between what we will pay for the land as a football ground and what a property developer will pay now as a development opportunity plus interest.

"We are dealing totally through intermediaries and its very frustrating, as we don’t think the bank competently understand the situation we are in, or the urgency.

"If we cannot reach agreement soon (we have a deadline of 3pm 1st June) Agilo have made their intention clear to sell the players and liquidate the club.

"Please be assured we are doing everything we can to make this happen but as we sit today the future of Crystal palace hangs in the balance and is very much in the hands of a person in a bank in Scotland whom we have never met and it seems we are not allowed to speak to.

"We note the new governments commitment to sport, particularly sport in the community, Bank of Scotland is currently government owned, as such we would urge the new Prime Minister to intervene personally to resolve the situation or see a club supported by many thousands with 100 year History consigned to the scrapheap."

Palace's administrator Brendan Guilfoyle told Sky Sports News: "I'm millions of pounds behind, staff weren't paid on Friday and a number were made redundant, others were asked to carry on working for nothing and it'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 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.

"I'd become quite complacent, thinking we were moving towards a deal tomorrow. The bank has got to get involved and has got to understand the issue the consortium have and see whether they can resolve it. I've been confident but I'm not confident anymore, I'm concerned now. I'm concerned that this problem might not be overcome in time.''