Palace chairman issues plea to fans

Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan says the club will struggle to mount a promotion challenge if attendances continue to dwindle at Selhurst Park.

The Eagles are desperate for investment, having been placed on the market by Jordan more than a year ago, while a transfer embargo imposed on the club by the Football League for unpaid bills was only lifted two weeks ago.

Jordan, who has hinted he would welcome a takeover bid from former Birmingham City co-owner David Gold, revealed the average home gate of just under 15,000 is costing the club around £5 million a year in lost revenue.

Speaking ahead of Palace’s trip across the capital to QPR tonight, Jordan said: “People need to look at the reality. If we had crowds of 25,000 coming through the gates each week then how much extra would that bring in a year? I think about £5 or £6 million and just think what we could do with that.

“Charlton, Norwich, Leeds, Leicester and Southampton have all been relegated in recent seasons with enormous attendances. People can say we’re in the middle of a recession and there’s a credit crunch but they are getting 25,000 each week.

“We played Nottingham Forest the other week and we had only 12,000 fans inside the ground – the other 3,500 were away fans.

“The fact of the matter is that the only way we can compete is if someone like me bridges the gap month in and month out.”

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