Steffen Iversen scores on debut for Crystal Palace

Burley's parting present will prove a big hit for Palace

The signing of former Spurs legend Steffen Iversen was viewed by some football fans across the country as another attempt by Crystal Palace to gain extra attention and was compared to the Davids deal as a PR stunt.

Well whether a PR stunt or not Iverson will prove to be one of our best assets over the coming months. In the warm-up he looked very sharp and during the game he was faultless winning

flick-ons and showed some nice touches. The only thing lacking was the inability of the Palace players to be

on the same wavelength as the Norwegian but that is no surprise after the 34-year-old was only cleared to play the morning of the game.

Another exciting prospect will be the return of Darren Ambrose to the line up who will hopefully provide the crosses for Iversen who at times looked frustrated with the lack of quality service he perhaps remembered seven years ago when he last played in England.

While some of Burley's signings during his five-month stint as manager at Selhurst have not lived up to their expectations it seems that the Scot has left with a belated Christmas present and parting gift that in my opinion will fire the Eagles up the table.

Crystal Palace protest at Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace Fans protest at Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace fans launched a protest against its current financial turmoil at their home ground, Selhurst Park, as it becomes clear the South London club are on the brink of extinction.

The demonstration, which took place at 3pm on bank holiday Monday and lasted for just over an hour, saw fans protest against the club being placed in administration with some supporters blaming former chairman Simon Jordan.

It appeared the takeover by CPFC 2010 looked to be gathering pace when a deal was struck with Agilo, a hedge fund that placed Palace into administration in January, but it has stalled. The main problem, which had looked to be resolved surrounds the ownership of Selhurst Park, which is owned by PricewaterhouseCoopers who are selling the ground on behalf of Bank of Scotland.

The Bank of Scotland, which is owned by Lloyds TSB, had looked to have struck an agreement but in a statement released by the CPFC 2010 consortium the contract is ‘unworkable’.

The CPFC 2010 consortium which is fronted by wealthy fans Martin Long and Steve Parish have been given until 3pm June 1^st to come to an agreement or Agilo will begin to liquidate the club and its assets.

After a member of the supporters trust announced this on a megaphone to the protesting fans he assured them that this did not mean the club was ‘dead’. The certain member of the supporters trust also confirmed that "it is nothing to do with money" and that "there are just a few technical clauses that don’t need to be there".

But the creditors want guarantees that Selhurst Park will not be sold on to a property developer and therefore cause them any embarrassment which is why CPFC 2010 have agreed to an ‘anti embarrassment’ clause that will allow the bank to receive a further return if Selhurst Park creates greater value.

The Protest

Photos of supporters protesting outside Selhurst Park and in the Holmesdale end taken by myself. Click on fullscreen to view.

Fans continued to protest with banners reading: “Save our club,” “105 years of history - don’t die without a fight” and aimed most of their anger at creditors Agilo, Lloyds TSB and the Bank of Scotland.

While the protest was free from violence fans did break into the ground and took up residence in the Holmesdale end – the loudest stand in the ground – and continued to chant.

There was a mixture of opinions from the fans with some blaming Simon Jordan while others criticised previous owner Ron Noades.

But regardless of who is to blame it is clear that all Palace supporters should be very worried about the direction the club may take if an agreement cannot be reached by 3pm tomorrow.

However, the supporters trust member does feel confident that an agreement will get sorted out as the CPFC 2010 are determined to see the deal through but admits the longer it goes on the worse the situation becomes.

He said: “The further it goes on the more harder it becomes for whoever buys the club to pick up the pieces. The worst-case scenario is the club being liquidated but the money contributed by the fans would go towards a new club set up like AFC Palace."

Tuesday will be a massive day for Crystal Palace football club but hopefully it will be one that Eagles fans can look back on with happiness and I dearly hope that an agreement can be made.

Video, taken by myself, of some Palace fans that managed to get to the Holmesdale end and continue their protest.

Audio of fans singing to follow...

'Season Over'

Well it’s all over for another year according to manager Neil Warnock who has blamed the disappointing form since the turn of the year on injuries to key players such as Paddy McCarthy and Claude Davis. After returning from a group of fixtures that saw the Eagles pick up just four points from four games and has seen them drift from possible play off contenders to mid table mediocrity. They sit eleven points adrift of the play offs and are ten points in danger of sinking into the drop zone.

The post Christmas form that in the past has seen palace creep into the play offs at just the right time is now just a fond memory. The Burnley side that fought back to beat a palace side that led two nil reminded me too much of an Ian Dowie team I once knew. Burnley certainly showed signs of ‘bounce back ability’ while Palace fell victim to a dubious penalty decision, which of course left Warnock fuming, and crumbled. The few hundred fans who travelled that day did not only have to suffer a four two drumming but watched on as palace players marched off the pitch without a single salute, except midfielders Nick Carle and Neil Danns, towards the contingent of red and blue support. The normally appreciative Neil Warnock wasn’t even acknowledging the fans, this after, he had of course berated the referee and official for awarding the penalty.

After this game I, like Neil Warnock does now, thought the season was over but the impressive away win at Swansea the following Saturday had me rethinking. Until I was brought back down to earth by the defeat to relegation threatened Barnsley. Now I accepted the season was over.

The risk of being dragged into a relegation battle while at this stage is not a big issue may still happen. Tough fixtures against teams in the top half of the table as well as games against teams fighting it out at the bottom, combined with the poor form of late, could see that issue turn big, very big. After a much needed international break palace will return to face QPR, Coventry and Cardiff in eight days before travelling down south to St Mary’s to play a Southampton side who have lost just once in seven games. This time next month things could be looking much worse for Palace fans and missing out on the play offs may not seem so bad after all.

So thoughts turn to rebuilding for next year and with Warnock admitting that there will be little money to spend next season the aim for the summer must be on keeping hold of the young players. Players such as Victor Moses and Nathanial Clyne, who has emerged this season as another product of the youth academy, could be tempted by Premiership football next year. Hopefully they will learn from previous youngsters that have left Selhurst Park in search of top-flight football, the likes of John Bostock who has played a handful of games for Spurs and Wayne Routledge who again left for Spurs but after failing to impress has returned back to the Championship.

As for signings, a goal scorer is a must but with Chairman Simon Jordan wanting to sell it looks like they will sign no-one capable of taking Palace back to the Premiership. Warnock has said that ‘he is hopeful of making a number of Bosman free transfer signings of the summer’, some ambition. The 2009 summer transfer window will probably consist of the ‘one in one out’ system that palace have been using so far in 2009, where by a player has had to leave before another can be bought in, Darren Fletcher and Danny Butterfield made way for Claude Davis and Anthony Stokes. So unless the club finds a buyer before the end of the summer then Palace could be staring at the same situation this time next year.


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