It used to be that the only time we heard about a team's finances are once a year when the official financial results are announced. For Palace more and more the club's financial position has been in the news culminating in the club going in to administration.

The attached explanation of Palace's finances makes grim reading. The club had made huge losses for years, and has clearly only survived through the continued largesse of Simon Jordan. This dependency on Jordan ended in tears when he announced  a year ago that he was looking to sell the club, and then in November, and again December 2009 the players wages were not paid.

It isn't clear if one single event pushed the club in to administration. The wage bill for the last year reported was just under £12m for the year, or £1m a month. If the club is not getting enough cash in through the door then Jordan will be having a huge strain on his personal finances.

Looking through the accounts it is clear that the club has never been run in a very prudent manner. Six of the last eight years reported a loss. Half the seasons the players have been paid more than 80% of the total income of the club. A huge outflow in cash. An ever increasing set of interest payments, linked to the ever increasing debts. A team that has not little but flatter over the period. A board of directors who have paid themselves nearly £3.5m while being ultimately responsible for all the above.

For those who wonder about other clubs who have been in administration go and have a look at what happened to Motherwell. Financially the situation is not dissimilar. The ultimate owner was the guy who was owed the vast majority of the money. Others, like the players and other teams who were owed transfer fees lost out but the club didn't really seem to. This was before the time clubs were penalised points for going into administration. If the same thing happens to Palace then Jordan will lose lots of money, the players may not get paid and teams owed money may miss out.

This site hopefully presents to you the financial results in words that we can all understand. All the numbers quoted about the club have come from the club's own accounts. If a mistake has been made in this, and you spot it, then PLEASE let us know, the aim is to be as honest as can be. If you have more accurate information then please get in touch.

 

Also if you have any suggestions on what else should or could be looked at please get in touch. The intention of the site is not to try and influence your opinion on the way the club has been run, just to give you the facts, and let you draw your own conclusions.