Post by QPR Report on Feb 16, 2010 7:30:23 GMT
Guardian
Crystal Palace creditor to face questions over player contracts• Concern that hedge fund may have breached third-party rules
• Administrator hoping to release funds from Victor Moses sale
Owen Gibson and Dominic Fifield guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 February 2010
The Football League will this week seek clarification from the hedge fund that pushed Crystal Palace into administration about the extent of their control over player contracts, amid concerns that they could breach rules over third-party ownership.
Agilo, the hedge fund that is owed £4.5m by Crystal Palace, said that it appointed administrators in the final days of the January transfer window only as "a last resort" following a breakdown in relations with the club's former owner, Simon Jordan.
The administrator Brendan Guilfoyle is expected to meet with the Football League in the coming days in the hope that it will release the balance of the money collected by the club in the transfer window from the sale of Victor Moses. Even after money has been deducted for football creditors, he has said that it will be sufficient to see the club through to the end of the season when added to the income from Palace's FA Cup run and a £1m loan advanced by Agilo. Guilfoyle has agreed in principle with the PFA that players will defer payment of their bonuses and appearance money until the end of the season.
Without the money from the Football League, and that also held by the Football Association for the Cup run, it is believed that the club's £800,000 wage bill and other outgoings would soon take their toll. But the League will want to be reassured that the money will go to help pay players' wages and could not be taken out of the club by Agilo as repayment for its debt. Agilo accepted the players' contracts as security for a loan taken out by Jordan, which is believed to have around £4.5m outstanding.
Meanwhile the FA are to scrutinise Neil Warnock's post-match criticisms of the assistant referee, Trevor Massey, following Palace's fifth round draw with Aston Villa.
The Palace manager was furious at the award of a corner three minutes from time, from which the visitors scored their second equaliser, after the ball went out off Villa's Nathan Delfouneso in the build-up.
Warnock described the oversight as "a disgrace" and called for Massey to be suspended. "The ball comes off Delfouneso and the officials wait to see which way they should give it… and it's a Premier League team losing 2-1, so we'll give it to them," he had said. "I spoke with [the linesman] Mr Massey and what he said was: 'When I watch it at home, if I was wrong, then I may be suspended.' Well, I don't feel any sympathy if he is suspended. I hope it's for a long time."
The outspoken Palace manager stood by his comments today and, if found to have been in disrepute, could face sanction from the FA. "I do think they should get banned, personally," said Warnock. "Only for two or three games. They've got to realise the importance of concentrating at that level for the whole 90 minutes.
Guilfoyle will tomorow meet with Laurie Manson of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which operates the £1.2m a year lease of Selhurst Park on behalf of Lloyds Bank, the creditors to the parent company that held the freehold that is now itself in administration.
PwC and Lloyds Bank have indicated that they are willing to find a "mutually beneficial" solution but it is believed that it would cost around £12m for any potential purchaser to buy the freehold, on top of whatever it costs to buy the club out of administration.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/15/crystal-palace-administration-player-contracts
Crystal Palace creditor to face questions over player contracts• Concern that hedge fund may have breached third-party rules
• Administrator hoping to release funds from Victor Moses sale
Owen Gibson and Dominic Fifield guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 February 2010
The Football League will this week seek clarification from the hedge fund that pushed Crystal Palace into administration about the extent of their control over player contracts, amid concerns that they could breach rules over third-party ownership.
Agilo, the hedge fund that is owed £4.5m by Crystal Palace, said that it appointed administrators in the final days of the January transfer window only as "a last resort" following a breakdown in relations with the club's former owner, Simon Jordan.
The administrator Brendan Guilfoyle is expected to meet with the Football League in the coming days in the hope that it will release the balance of the money collected by the club in the transfer window from the sale of Victor Moses. Even after money has been deducted for football creditors, he has said that it will be sufficient to see the club through to the end of the season when added to the income from Palace's FA Cup run and a £1m loan advanced by Agilo. Guilfoyle has agreed in principle with the PFA that players will defer payment of their bonuses and appearance money until the end of the season.
Without the money from the Football League, and that also held by the Football Association for the Cup run, it is believed that the club's £800,000 wage bill and other outgoings would soon take their toll. But the League will want to be reassured that the money will go to help pay players' wages and could not be taken out of the club by Agilo as repayment for its debt. Agilo accepted the players' contracts as security for a loan taken out by Jordan, which is believed to have around £4.5m outstanding.
Meanwhile the FA are to scrutinise Neil Warnock's post-match criticisms of the assistant referee, Trevor Massey, following Palace's fifth round draw with Aston Villa.
The Palace manager was furious at the award of a corner three minutes from time, from which the visitors scored their second equaliser, after the ball went out off Villa's Nathan Delfouneso in the build-up.
Warnock described the oversight as "a disgrace" and called for Massey to be suspended. "The ball comes off Delfouneso and the officials wait to see which way they should give it… and it's a Premier League team losing 2-1, so we'll give it to them," he had said. "I spoke with [the linesman] Mr Massey and what he said was: 'When I watch it at home, if I was wrong, then I may be suspended.' Well, I don't feel any sympathy if he is suspended. I hope it's for a long time."
The outspoken Palace manager stood by his comments today and, if found to have been in disrepute, could face sanction from the FA. "I do think they should get banned, personally," said Warnock. "Only for two or three games. They've got to realise the importance of concentrating at that level for the whole 90 minutes.
Guilfoyle will tomorow meet with Laurie Manson of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which operates the £1.2m a year lease of Selhurst Park on behalf of Lloyds Bank, the creditors to the parent company that held the freehold that is now itself in administration.
PwC and Lloyds Bank have indicated that they are willing to find a "mutually beneficial" solution but it is believed that it would cost around £12m for any potential purchaser to buy the freehold, on top of whatever it costs to buy the club out of administration.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/15/crystal-palace-administration-player-contracts