Clear as Crystal

Brendon Guilfoyle, insolvency supremo at P&A Partnership, is the administrator in charge of Crystal Palace, the latest big football club to hit the skids.

What’s happened?

“In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team,” said philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Sadly, for modern professional football, the real complicating factor is funding the huge financial extravagances that clubs seem addicted to.

These are some of the factors affecting Crystal Palace’s entry into administration under the management of football insolvency specialist Guilfoyle.

The south London club called time on its current round of financial fluctuations last week after wracking up debt of £32m. £20m of that is owed to club chairman Simon Jordon, with £4m due to Agilo, the hedge fund, and HMRC waiting to recoup around £2m. Football creditors – players and management – have registered an outstanding £1.5m.

But Guilfoyle’s substitution into the financial stage of this particular game was no debut for the Leeds-based IP. Previous beautiful game appointments have included Leeds Utd and Luton Town. Therefore, Palace has a man in charge who knows his way around the unstable world of football finance.

What happens next?

Guilfoyle has to tackle all these competing interests in his bid to get Palace back up and past a financial fitness test. This will be no easy task. There are plenty of people in the boardroom out of pocket. Guilfoyle has already courted con­troversy by reportedly taking top asset, Victor Moses, off the team sheet for last week’s 2-0 defeat by Newcastle to avoid injury ahead of his sale to Wigan.

The insolvency man is therefore not only negotiating debts, but also team selection.

It’s also a clue to his way forward – sell off what’s valuable, get the club up and running with what’s left and look for a buyer. What Guilfoyle really needs, if he’s to bring about a quick resolution to the crisis that has clipped the Eagles wings, is for the talking to stop and for someone to stump up some cash.

Complicating the prospects for any potential owner is the freehold of the club’s ground Selhurst Park. It is currently held by PwC on behalf of Lloyds. But the ground is worth much more without the club on it.

What all parties will get from Guilfoyle, a past president of R3, the professional body for insolvency professionals, is a straight opinion and a dedication to robust ethics.

In 2008 he was quoted saying: “A lot of people want to have off the record discussions with an IP. To my mind there is no such thing... The moment you are appointed as an IP formally you can’t guarantee confidentiality.”

The backroom deals that have so often marred football are not on the Crystal Palace agenda. The creditors will have to deal with Guilfoyle out in the open, or not at all.