
The Eagles saved themselves with a draw against Sheffield Wednesday on the last day of the Championship season, which was one of the most important days for the club and is important to where the club is right now, but there was still uncertainty about ownership.
On the 31st of May 2010, it was announced that if a deal wasn’t struck within 24 hours, they would fold as a club and would have to start again in the depths of English football.
This led to fan protests outside Selhurst Park to raise awareness of the club’s fate. There were more protests the next day outside Lloyds Bank headquarters in London, who owned Selhurst Park at the time, with three thousand Palace fans gathered outside the place chanting and protesting to save their club.
The protests were important as they put pressure on the bank to lower the sale of Selhurst Park to the consortium, which they eventually did in the end, as at half past three on the day a statement came out that a deal had been struck that saved the club from liquidation.
The consortium was led by lifelong Palace fan Steve Parish, with fellow Palace supporters Stephen Browett, Jeremy Hosking, and Martin Long at the helm as they negotiated a 3.5 million pound deal to buy Selhurst Park from Lloyds Bank, saving the club.
If it weren’t for the fan protests putting pressure on Lloyds Bank to sell, there would be no Crystal Palace, as the fans helped save the club and are the main reason they are a club.
In 2023, they will have played 10 seasons in the Premier League, something no Palace fan would’ve predicted back in 2010, when they were on the brink of folding, but it’s all down to the fans who have stayed loyal ever since and have greeted the rewards at the end of it.
Now in their 11th season of Premier League football and with a Cat 1 academy, it’s a bright future for the club, which has plans on reaching new heights and bringing in young talent to develop and be part of the new history at the club.
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