Brokedown Palace: Cause And Effect

Crystal Palace now have an uncertain future.

Poor Crystal Palace. Their owner Simon Jordan gave up yesterday, his disillusion with football evident ever since he lost Palace youth product, John Bostock, to Spurs for a nominal fee back in 2008.

Since then, the money trouble has escalated and Jordan’s interest or desire to put more in has waned. The players have suffered through missed pay days and the club were embargoed from making signings over owed money.

Jordan made his money in the mobile phone industry and sold his chain of stores, Pocket Phone Company, to One2One in 2000 for £73m. Soon after, he bought the club (ironically from the administrators — yes, Palace have been here before) and became the youngest Chairman in football at the age of 32 though today, his foray in football is over.

Yesterday the team landed in Newcastle ahead of their game against United (today) and found out that instead of being 3 points from a play-off place, they were in a relegation fight.

Entering administration may allow a club to avoid paying their debts and act as a ‘get out of jail’ card for owners, but it has a heavy price for the players and the fans. Tonight as Palace take to the pitch at St James Park they are no longer 3 points from the top six but 4 points from the bottom 3, and in 20th place in the Coca-Cola Championship. Administration brings a penalty: a ten point deduction.

Palace have debts of £30m and Jordan has simply decided that he isn’t sinking any more in. It may not be the the deciding factor, but the Bostock transfer certainly changed Jordan’s outlook on the game and affected his long-term goals to drive Palace forward, spending as he went. He openly vented his anger over the affair and considered his future in the game at that time, threatening to quit.

Tan man is through, Simon Jordan is packing it in.

Bostock joined Spurs in 2008 yet has only played one first-team game for the EPL side. He was spotted by Spurs scouts, who were accused by Jordan of sneaking into Palace training sessions, and offered a deal at White Hart Lane. A tribunal decided that Spurs should only pay £700k for the 16 year old, a player that Palace believed would be a real star… for them.

The loss of Bostock riled Jordanand rightly so. The Palace Academy had done the hard work and Spurs were going to reap the benefits. What’s the point in running an academy to produce local talent if a bigger club can come in a steal them for peanuts? Jordan was correct but the rules were against him. How ironic that Bostock is currently on loan to Brentford in League One, where Palace may well end up next season.

The administrators, A and P Partnership, have conceded that players may need to be sold to balance the books but also think that there are buyers interested in buying the club. I am sure there will be many takers; it’s very easy to pick up the pieces once all of the debt has been wiped out and the local suppliers shafted!

“Our role now is to find a buyer quickly to provide certainty for the employees, players and fans for the future. We are hoping our appointment will be short-lived as we understand there are many interested buyers.”- Brendan Guilfoyle, P & A Partnership.

The players, manager and fans are absolutely gutted, defender Matt Lwrence revealed today that the squad found out the bad news via twitter! Manager Neil Warnock said this morning that he understands Simon Jordan’s position but the former Sheffield United manager is fuming at the timing. Timing that will likely see the teams best players leave for cheap.

“The timing just astonishes me. There’s a week to go in the transfer window and we are about to sell Victor Moses for millions, I’m devastated, shocked and hugely disappointed. I know there’ll be clubs eyeing up all the talent we have coming through our youth scheme and thinking they can get players for a song. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. As I said, I really cannot understand the timing.”- Palace gaffer, Neil Warnock.

As for Jordan, now that he is done with football and left Palace in the s**t with an incredible amount of unmanageable debt (there is a difference), maybe he can spend more time working on his tan.

Thanks for the title suggestion, Goat. This one’s for you:

Update: And the hits just keep coming. Bank administrators won’t allow Palace to play Victor Moses in today’s match against Newcastle, saying there is “no chance” that Moses will stay at the club. Ouch.