Love that this hasn't been picked out more. Fair play to Palace on promotion, it was quite the feat considering they were touted more for relegation than promotion, but it does stink that those creidtors who missed out 2 years ago now won't be rewarded with what is theres. Am I right in remembering it was people such as paramedics who missed out on money etc?
It was small local businesses and the St John's Ambulance Service..... but who cares..... the players got paid
And Crystal Palace picked up a free ground in the process. The "buyers" of CPFC said they weren't interested if they weren't handed the ground (part of a different administration process, with different administrators) along with it. So they whinged enough to get the ground. I lost sympathy for all clubs going into administration since the Southampton debacle. Crystal Palace (and Portsmouth, Port Vale etc) went into administration after Southampton, so all those clubs could have gone bust for all I cared. As with Southampton, Palace benefit at the expense of their creditors. Did Palace lose any of the players from "the greatest academy in Croydon" when they were in administration? Surely those could have been sold off to pay creditors?
Irish, you are right that the whole business stinks. But have a thought for the supporters of Palace, Portsmouth, Port Vale, etc. They don't deserve to lose their clubs. We have come that close to extinction at least twice and we would have been only too grateful for new owners to do whatever they could to keep the club going. What we know of Jimenez and Slater they wouldn't hesitate to pull any dodgy stunt if it suited both them and the club. If laws were broken (and I'm not suggesting they were) then it is down to the Police and Prosecution Service to come down on them. If laws were not broken, as seems to be the case, then don't blame the club or the new owners. Blame the stupid and possibly corrupt football authorities (FA, Football League, etc.) and relevant government departments for letting them get away with it and permitting this situation to recur again and again. The root cause of the trouble is too much money is going out of the game to players and agents. Big money for transfer fees is not really an issue so long as it stays within the game circulating round the clubs. Another root cause is that not enough TV money is percolating down through the tier to the roots of the game. I agree that all but dedicated fans of particular clubs, and especially overseas viewers, are only interested in watching the top six or so clubs, but without the rest of the pyramid those clubs would soon start to lose their appeal. It is right that they get the lion's share, but not as much as they do at present. Don't hate the fans of Palace, Portsmouth, Port Vale, etc., and wish them deprived of their Saturday fix. They are just poor punters like us.
Some might know that I have another club - Dundalk - who were very close to the brink of extinction last autumn, in a country where clubs go extinct at least once a year, and are usually not replaced. I was ready for it to happen, and worked out how I'd respond to it. If that had happened, I would've had a similar attitude to how I feel about Portsmouth etc. I would've supported any means of keeping the club alive, even if that meant the non-ideal Supporters' Trust, hoping to pay any outstanding debts. I definitely would not go around whinging about the situation to all and sundry. There is NO way that I would have supported a protest march on any business owed money by the club (as happened with Crystal Palace). Re Charlton, the whole Baton 2010 Ltd thing involved writing down debt at the agreement of the creditors/investors. I wonder why Palace didn't do this instead of just pulling the plug... Gloating by Nigel fans, as with Southampton fans before them, does nothing to change my opinion of the situation. If there's any, say, Burton Albion fans who have a similar opinion about Port Vale, I would be completely behind them. Or any Cardiff Redbirds fans who may have felt cheated out of a FA Cup title. Palace didn't just write off the debt - they also picked up a ground they didn't own before they went into administration. Southampton didn't just write off the debt, they immediately went out and spent big money that summer. Sure, there are problems within football governance and the reward structure within football. But none of that gets around the fact that these clubs have dodged their debts in order to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals. Portsmouth are a rare example in professional English football (along with, from memory, Luton, maybe Bournemouth, and that's about it) in that they might actually be punished for it, but ever since Leicester won promotion in the same season as they went into administration, it's looked like a very easy game for any club that can't manage the books. Pay up Pompey. Pay up Port Vale. Pay up Palace.
Agree with all you say, Irish. But I still think most of our supporters, and even more so the club staff, would be quite willing for our owners to pull every dirty trick in the book that is within the law to keep the club running if we were in a similar situation (as may yet happen) and that our present owners wouldn't hesitate to do so. If your standards are higher and you would be prepared to see the club go under rather than do something unethical then I congratulate you.
Fair play, was a tongue in cheek thread. The palace fans clubed together to pay off the St. John's ambulance.
Glad to hear it. All credit to them. As for small businesses, I wouldn't lose any sleep over them. They are not charities or public services. They are in business to make money for their owners. A good business assesses the risk when supplying goods or services on credit. If they judge wrongly that is part of the game. Of course, if the law was broken they would have legal redress.
Were these the same Palace fans as those who marched up to the offices of a business because they had the audacity to expect Palace to pay their debts? Pay your creditors
