Crystal Palace - Liquidation?

[DaveF]

A deadline of tomorrow at 3pm has been set by the administrator and unless a deal can be reached, then it seems as if the process of liquidation will begin.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/crystal_palace/8714650.stm

Another false panic, with extensions being granted or is this as close as any 'big' club have come to facing shutdown?

[Jonnyboy]

A deadline of tomorrow at 3pm has been set by the administrator and unless a deal can be reached, then it seems as if the process of liquidation will begin.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/crystal_palace/8714650.stm

Another false panic, with extensions being granted or is this as close as any 'big' club have come to facing shutdown?

Not looking good for them. Founded in 1905 so lots of history. Hope they survive

[surreyhibbie]

Hope they survive, got a few friends who support them and, technically, they are my local senior club..

Would be a shame if they were to go under.

[.Sean.]

Certainly would be a shame for them to go under, im posting from my phone right now could someone tell me what size of debt they have?

[Sas_The_Hibby]

Wouldn't it be ironic if senior clubs from two capital cities in the UK went out of business in the same year? :bitchy:








(clue: I'm not talking about Cardiff or Belfast!! :wink: )

[Chuckie]

Certainly would be a shame for them to go under, im posting from my phone right now could someone tell me what size of debt they have?

Estimates at £30 million.

[bighairyfaeleith]

Estimates at £30 million.

Surely thats not enough to take a big club down. I mean Palace can't be drawing in around 14-15k to home games can they?

[Hibs07p]

Surely thats not enough to take a big club down. I mean Palace can't be drawing in around 14-15k to home games can they?

You would think that they would have more important things to worry about, like having the correct watt bulbs fitted in their stadium, rather than a £30M debt! But then again, their debt is owed to Bank of Scotland, rather than to themselves, so maybe it is a real worry?

Anyway being serious here, I see Sheffield Wednesday were relegated on the last day of the season when CP won the dogfight to stay up. Do any of the teams that were relegated, deserve to be going down, at the expense of another team that lived well outside it's means?

[BigKev]

As a Wedenesday supporter I'd be pretty pleased if they were to be re-admitted to the Championship even if it's by default however it does bring to light the financial perils of trying to gain Premiership football.

If I remember correctly the CCC is the sixth richest football league in the world so to run up a debt of £30 million after selling both star players and stadium is serious mismanagement.

I'd rather they were saved as it's the loyal supporters who would be left devastated should they be liquidated.

[bighairyfaeleith]

As a Wedenesday supporter I'd be pretty pleased if they were to be re-admitted to the Championship even if it's by default however it does bring to light the financial perils of trying to gain Premiership football.

If I remember correctly the CCC is the sixth richest football league in the world so to run up a debt of £30 million after selling both star players and stadium is serious mismanagement.

I'd rather they were saved as it's the loyal supporters who would be left devastated should they be liquidated.

What sort of support do they get every week?

[BigKev]

What sort of support do they get every week?

About 15k per week mate. There was 5200 of them the last game of the season at Hillsborough and they made a fair old racket.

[Caversham Green]

As a Wedenesday supporter I'd be pretty pleased if they were to be re-admitted to the Championship even if it's by default however it does bring to light the financial perils of trying to gain Premiership football.

If I remember correctly the CCC is the sixth richest football league in the world so to run up a debt of £30 million after selling both star players and stadium is serious mismanagement.

I'd rather they were saved as it's the loyal supporters who would be left devastated should they be liquidated.

Turnover-wise the CCC is not much bigger than the upper end of the SPL. In Reading's promotion year they had a turnover of £12.3m - that's top of the league and close to sell-out crowds (24,000+) every week. Stoke in their promotion year had £11.2m(£7.9m for the previous year). Where they really differ is that teams looking for promotion (which Palace were before their 10 point penalty) will speculate to accumulate, paying much higher wages and accepting losses because the prize for success is so huge.


What sort of support do they get every week?

Their crowd against Reading last season was 13,259 (including 833 visiting fans). It was a midweek game, but I would guess that would be about average.

[PeeKay]

The problem is that the owners of the club do not own Selhurst Park. The ground is owned by a bank and although they are willing to sell at a reasonable price, they want a sell-on clause that the prospective buyers are unwilling to allow. The Administrator has already made redundancies. These are the people I feel most sorry for.
Thank God for Rod!!

[seanraff07]

Right this is what i don't understand, jokes aside, Crystal Palace must be considered as a bigger club than Hearts with better players. So how can Hearts get away with £35m debt yet Crystal Palace can't get away with £30m debt?

[basehibby]

Right this is what i don't understand, jokes aside, Crystal Palace must be considered as a bigger club than Hearts with better players. So how can Hearts get away with £35m debt yet Crystal Palace can't get away with £30m debt?

We always have a good laugh at the Yamlogic that goes "it doesny matter cos we owe the money to ourselves" but there is a small grain of truth in this.

Basically Vlad has a controlling interest in UKIO bankas which bought the Hearts debt from Bank of Scotland before promptly doubling it in pursuit of Champions League glory :hilarious Although that doesn't make their debt any more sustainable, it does mean that they're being put under far less pressure to stump up than would be the case under normal circumstances.

Certainly, if the Yams did not have this unusual arrangement in place they would be struggling to stay in existence right now. As it is Vlad has them permanently over a barrel with their bad taste Yamish trousers round their ankles.

[Devonhibs]

Playing devils advocate, why shouldnt badly run clubs who run up large unsustainable debts not go to the wall and dissappear?

There are lots of examples of clubs going into admin, many small businesses never seeing the money they are owed and the club carries on having been bought for a pittance and the debt cleared/written off!

Very few have all their assets, including the ground sold off to repay creditors. This doent happen in other convential business's. Just because its a football club, should they be treated differently?

[hibs0666]

We always have a good laugh at the Yamlogic that goes "it doesny matter cos we owe the money to ourselves" but there is a small grain of truth in this.

Basically Vlad has a controlling interest in UKIO bankas which bought the Hearts debt from Bank of Scotland before promptly doubling it in pursuit of Champions League glory :hilarious Although that doesn't make their debt any more sustainable, it does mean that they're being put under far less pressure to stump up than would be the case under normal circumstances.

Certainly, if the Yams did not have this unusual arrangement in place they would be struggling to stay in existence right now. As it is Vlad has them permanently over a barrel with their bad taste Yamish trousers round their ankles.


UBIG has 'bought out' the yam debt to Ukio Bankas and the yams are no longer under any bank pressure to settle up. However, while the continue to piss money up they don't have against the wall they continue to be a right pain in the erse, and financial drain, for UBIG.

[greenlex]

Did it happen then?

[hibs0666]

Did it happen then?

It looks like a deal with Lloyds Bank to save the club is very close.

[Hibs07p]

UBIG has 'bought out' the yam debt to Ukio Bankas and the yams are no longer under any bank pressure to settle up. However, while the continue to piss money up they don't have against the wall they continue to be a right pain in the erse, and financial drain, for UBIG.

I see it differently. I think the bank have got them where they want them, and an increasing amount of Hearts revenue streams will be going direct to UBIG in interest payments, leaving even less of their turnover available to run their club, hence the statements regarding bringing through the youth players. After all, the plums over there will continue to bend over and offer anal relief to bad Vlad while paying him for the privilege with new season tickets.

[seanraff07]

We always have a good laugh at the Yamlogic that goes "it doesny matter cos we owe the money to ourselves" but there is a small grain of truth in this.

Basically Vlad has a controlling interest in UKIO bankas which bought the Hearts debt from Bank of Scotland before promptly doubling it in pursuit of Champions League glory :hilarious Although that doesn't make their debt any more sustainable, it does mean that they're being put under far less pressure to stump up than would be the case under normal circumstances.

Certainly, if the Yams did not have this unusual arrangement in place they would be struggling to stay in existence right now. As it is Vlad has them permanently over a barrel with their bad taste Yamish trousers round their ankles.

Thank you for explaining that for me.

Have never really quite understood the whole thing with Hearts debt, not surprised, their a shambles of a club. :hilarious

[MSK]

Playing devils advocate, why shouldnt badly run clubs who run up large unsustainable debts not go to the wall and dissappear?

There are lots of examples of clubs going into admin, many small businesses never seeing the money they are owed and the club carries on having been bought for a pittance and the debt cleared/written off!

Very few have all their assets, including the ground sold off to repay creditors. This doent happen in other convential business's. Just because its a football club, should they be treated differently?Motherwell being a prime example ...they paid outrageous wages to players such as John Spencer etc but lived on crowds no higher than 5k...Boyle took a massive gamble & it never paid off....however i dont recall them being deducted points (correct me if im wrong) or suffered any real damaging consequences other than selling assets & aggreeing to pay x amount in the £ back to its creditors ...Boyle is still a millionaire & Motherwell continue to be a decently run club ..albeit with a ****ty home crowd & a ****tier ground ...

[PaulSmith]

It looks like a deal with Lloyds Bank to save the club is very close.

It was confirmed today by LBG that they had reached an agreement via PriceWaterhouse with the group working to save Crystal Palace.

[Chuckie]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/01/crystal-palace-saved-liquidation-cpfc-2010