7 Times Being A Crystal Palace Fan Was Too Stressful
3. Plunged Into Administration For A Second Time
In late 2009, financial problems at Palace started to surface. Ominously, due to 'cash-flow problems' cited by chairman Simon Jordan, the players weren't getting paid on time and the club reportedly had an outstanding tax bill that ran to over £1m, with a further £5.5m reportedly owed to creditors, the hedge fund company Agilo. To ease the financial worries, Jose Fonte was sold to Southampton which enabled the players to be paid their December wages, allowing Jordan to turn his attention to his court date on January 27th 2010 with HMRC over the unpaid tax bill. However, Jordan and HMRC never made it to court as Agilo, the day before the court date, plunged the South London club into administration because they wanted their money to be paid ahead of other creditors. Palace were suddenly taken from mid-table safety, and a possible play-off push, to a relegation scrap as they sank 9 places after being deducted 10 points. Victor Moses was then sold for a knock-down price and Neil Warnock, a month after saying he was staying to fight, was allowed to move on to QPR, costing Palace their manager but allowing some much needed funds to be raised. Rumours soon surfaced that a consortium of wealthy Palace fans led by Steve Parish were reluctantly looking to buy the club, but there was a sticking point - Palace didn't own the ground, Selhurst Park, and they wouldn't buy the club without it. On 1st June 2010, in truly dramatic fashion, Palace fans descended on Lloyds Bank HQ in Central London to protest over the possible winding up of the club. If Palace weren't bought by the 3pm deadline the club would be liquidated - the Palace faithful were loud and they were proud and, minutes before the looming deadline, it was announced that the club and ground had been reunited and that the club had new owners: the consortium 'CPFC2010' led by Parish. The administrators were eventually moved out of Selhurst Park but the name Brendan Guilfoyle is still sure to send shivers down Crystal Palace fans' spines.
