Fear and Loathing in Selhurst Park - World Football Guest Post --- January 27, 2010

By: A Crystal Palace Supporter

Oh the irony, on the day British papers report that the rich/poor divide is wider than it has ever been beforein society could also be applied to the finances of football clubs is the same day when Crystal Palace go into Administration with an estimated debt of £30 million.

For Palace fans it hardly came as a great surprise with rumours and reports of missed payments and unpaid wages, the one hope being that a new buyer would sweep in on their trusted steed and save the club and particularly the young developing squad that Neil Warnock is so masterfully moulding into a skilful team.

So what of the future? The optimistic fans hope that this will be a much needed fresh start for the club. The start of a new exciting chapter in the Eagles history. For many fans though the future is scary and uncertain. What we can expect is firstly to see our club lose 10 points and go from fighting for a play-off place to the reality of a relegation battle. The squad systematically dismantled with players who we were hoping would be part of our long term future sold at knock down prices.

Already Victor Moses has been stopped by the administrators from playing against Newcastle United and will almost certainly be sold in the next few days. Who knows who else will be sold? The administrator has said that he needs to balance the sale of players with the day to day costs needed for running the club while at the same time the squad needs for good quality players to keep the club in the Championship as this would mean that the club would be more commercially viable to any prospective buyers.

Added into the mix for any potential buyer is the need to buy Selhurst Park at the same time from another company who went into administration some 6 months ago. Enter Ron Noades the former owner of Palace and Monty Burns lookalike, who separated club and ground some 25 years ago and for many fans one of the villains for the predicament Palace finds itself in. Uncle Ron as he is affectionately known by us fans has asked to buy back the ground at a fraction of the price he originally sold it for and to rent it back to the club. With friends like that who needs enemies.

Other then Warnock and the prolific youth academy Palace can also rely on one of the best organised set of fans. The world's first supporters trust are speaking to possible buyers, the second time they have done this in little over 10 years and so seem very well organised.

The Palace on-line community, the largest of any club with over 46,000 members are drawing plans of action and reinforcement to make sure that there will be a club to bring pleasure and infuriate us in equal measure for many years to come. This the joy of being a Palace supporter.

The fact that we have been in this mess before and come through it makes me convinced that we will do so again and not just because of the comforting fact that no club of our size has ever gone under, for surely one day that will sadly change. No, my confidence is in the belief that we are well placed to make the best of this.

On the footballing side, we are remarkably fortunate to have a manager who could almost have been born to take on this challenge. It’s not just the manager either, we have a great group of players to ride out this storm.

They’ve done remarkably well to get us this far, and while the target has sadly moved, I have no doubt that they will continue to give their all . Yes we will lose some almost certainly, but others are ready to step in and make a good fist of staying in this league.

Not least, this is a great opportunity for the youngsters. Among the senior pros too, we have players almost tailor made for right now. The likes of Derry and Hill will provide the leadership required, while the mad enthusiasm of Johannes Ertl, and professional solidity of Danny Butterfield will add to that core of experience to compliment the youth.

None of that counts for anything of course, unless we come out of it the other side. And I am convinced we will. Administration will reduce costs to a sensible level by football standards, and the reduced cost and the situation around Selhurst Park makes reuniting the club and ground a more realistic prospect today than it has been at any time since the split.

What’s more I hope the academy will provide a future flow of players. The club can be an attractive package if the payers can keep us in the Championship, and represents an interesting long term project even if the sterling efforts of our players prove not to be quite enough.

Someone, or perhaps better still a group of people (as the club has perhaps been for too long controlled autocratically by a succession of egomaniacs), will find the call too strong to resist. The club will be saved, and today will have been the start of that process. So maybe the meek will inherit the earth, or at least their home football ground.