CPFC 2010 are the right men to take Palace forward (From Croydon Guardian)
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CPFC 2010 are the right men to take Palace forward
10:32am Friday 4th June 2010
After Monday’s announcement that negotiations had stalled and Brendan Guilfoyle’s subsequent deadline, I was left waiting with baited breath for so much of Tuesday to see if the consortium could salvage the deal and save the club.
I have no idea how many times I saw the same interview from Peter Taylor’s garden but it was more than worth it for the announcement that came just past the 3pm deadline that a deal had been reached.
From what they’ve displayed so far, even at this early stage, the club couldn’t be in safer hands than the members of CPFC 2010.
They’ve been thoroughly sensible throughout this process, always keeping their focus and refusing to be bullied into paying more than they were prepared to pay.
Lesser people would have allowed their emotional attachment to their club cloud their business judgement but they held their nerve well into the eleventh hour.
Despite the fright it gave us fans they have played this exactly right.
The ground needs a major overhaul; not just cosmetically but structurally as well with the Main Stand in dire need of replacement and with constant rumours that the Holmesdale is subsiding, it is inevitable that money will need to be spent on Selhurst.
If this increases the value of the ground then why should Lloyds banking group profit from this without actually contributing to the improvements.
To me, the strength of character the consortium has shown is testament to the advantages of having a more than one individual running the club.
With a number of individuals heavily invested in the club, it should stop the reckless decisions that Simon Jordan made to support his personal ambition.
Steve Parish, Martin Long and their associates will keep each other in check.
It’s just a shame it took 29 redundancies, two protests and drastic intervention from Brendan Guilfoyle to make this deal happen, and all to save the bank some embarrassment.
Hopefully one of the first duties of the new regime will be to reinstate those who lost their jobs at the end of last week.
The ability to recommence the selling of season tickets should facilitate this.
As much as he has frustrated fans at times during his stay, Brendan Guilfoyle’s role in this weeks events can’t be ignored.
In my opinion, he played a masterstroke on Monday by setting the 3pm deadline and forcing Lloyds’ hand.
Many will be sceptical of his motives but at the end of the day it is his job to bring about a successful conclusion to this process.
If he doesn’t he doesn’t get paid and I believe it was this move that gave CPFC 2010 the necessary leverage to make a deal on their terms a reality.
On the subject of the fans, the scenes at both Selhurst Park on Monday and Lloyd’s Headquarters on Tuesday were a source of great pride.
The Palace faithful not only showed their passion for this club but also managed it in a typically Palace way.
There was no histrionics, no violence and no disorder.
Instead the protests were approached with great dignity, humour and the same togetherness that has epitomised the club over the last few months.
What needs to be done now is to retain the same togetherness and atmosphere that has been catalysed by this grave situation.
Fans can’t just get comfortable as we did after the last administration and go back to the apathy that led to the poor attendances that played a small part in the financial problems that eventually forced us back into administration.
We also need to learn from past mistakes and in doing so temper expectations accordingly.
Steve Parish and his associates will not be spending the same silly amounts as their predecessor did chasing promotion, so protestations from the terraces for a 20-goal-a-season striker will fall on deaf ears.
The club has been given another reprieve and we can never let it happen again after all we’ve had two strikes; one more and we’re out.
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Comments (1)
11:17am Fri 4 Jun 10
dpfinnie says...
My hope is that they now forget about big money signings and concentrate on the academy. We know there are lads coming through who are more than capable of playing in the top levels of the game and they cost us very little.