Palace ‘palace’ rejig yawning delay irk fans

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The Premier League team Crystal Palace F.C. supporters are beginning to doubt whether the long-promised redevelopment of their abode – the Selhurst Park in Selhurst, London, England (UK) – will ever happen as the project faces fresh delays and a ballooning price tag now expected to top £200 million.

‘MyLondon’ stated that the Croydon Council first granted the club planning permission in principle to overhaul the Main Stand seven years ago (April 19^th). Yet, despite early groundwork starting last Summer the main construction is yet to begin.

The Crystal Palace F.C., commonly referred to as simply Palace, is a professional football club based in Selhurst, South London, England (UK) which competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football.

The 25,486-capacity Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst, in the London Borough of Croydon, England (UK) which serves as the home ground of the Premier League club Crystal Palace F.C.

‘MyLondon’ further stated that originally due for completion by 2021 the scheme has been plagued by rising costs, planning hurdles and funding uncertainty. The project, once expected to cost £100m, is now likely to exceed £200m.

Sources close to the project say inflation in building material prices and complicated funding talks are to blame. While Palace’s Chairman Steve Parish hoped to avoid taking on full debt by mixing loans with the shareholder cash the ongoing uncertainty around the US investor John Textor’s stake has added more delays.

Despite the club’s insistence that the project is still alive and that talks between the shareholders are ongoing the fans are growing frustrated. With little visible progress many now question whether the expansion will ever happen.

One fan James wrote on X, “It would be cheaper and better to find some land and build a new stadium. This is just ridiculous, all the delays.”

Another fan, Michael Tulley, added, “The old stand will have fallen down by itself before anything starts happening.”

Last Summer Palace moved its temporary offices behind the Whitehorse Lane Stand Executive Boxes and spent £1m on water tanks to drain a flooded basement on the Holmesdale Road Stand – but major works are yet to take place.

The project aims to boost the stadium’s capacity from 25,486 to over 34,000 and bring other long-awaited improvements to the ground. The land has already been purchased from the neighboring Sainsbury’s and the club plans to knock down the nearby Council flats on Wooderson Close to make space.

However, the following saga between the club, the Council and the Wooderson Close residents delayed the project even more. While the club and the local authority were eventually able to rehouse all of the Council tenants the club cannot proceed with demolition until it has reached an agreement with the last privately-owned house on the Close.

The club must also find land elsewhere in the borough to build the replacement homes as required by the planning rules.

Alongside the land issue questions about the project’s design and how it will affect the rest of the ground are also being asked. The original plan was to build around the Main Stand before knocking the 100-year-old original down.

However a new option being considered is to fully demolish the stand first and rebuild from scratch. While this could speed up the project it would temporarily slash the stadium capacity and cut matchday income from the 6,000 fans currently seated there.

If the club opts to demolish the Main Stand first a smaller temporary seating area could be added. However, finding a new space for its profitable matchday hospitality and displaced season ticket holders would pose a significant challenge.

While the club is yet to comment on the project’s current status it says it remains committed to the plans.

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