Josh Harris’ Palace Deal Will See Steve Parish Retain A Major Stake
Talk of a takeover at Crystal Palace may have died down a little of late, but a report in yesterday’s Evening Standard suggested that any deal which did usher new investment into the club, would have to see current co-chairman Steve Parish retaining a major stake.
Many of the early stories regarding US billionaire Josh Harris’ interest in becoming part of the ownership team at Selhurst Park were based along the lines of Parish and his fellow owners seeing their stakes in the football club reduced heavily as a collective, but now, it seems as though the former will still be a major stakeholder, whatever happens.
Whilst all four members of CPFC2010 remain in total agreement over the benefits that additional financial backing will bring, there is an obvious degree of trepidation attached to the prospect of handing power over completely, given the mess they found it in when saving us from certain extinction five years ago.
With Steve Parish having been the public face of the consortium since its conception, it feels as though he personally would be loathe to hand over the reins entirely, having built the football club from its foundations in many senses.
Should he at least retain all, or close to all of his current stake, there will be a tangible connection to the group who fully understand where we as a collective entity have come from, rather than those in charge simply seeing our place in England’s top flight as the sole reason for our importance within the game.
It’s undoubtedly a delicate balancing act to manage for CPFC2010, who, in wanting the best for Crystal Palace FC, are no doubt a little torn over which direction to move in, but as the summer looms, it seems as if we may have some concrete details over the intricacies of any agreement before too long.
