Cash-strapped Palace axe 29 staff

Crystal Palace axed 29 non-playing staff on Friday as administrator Brendan Guilfoyle revealed the cash-strapped Championship club is “on a “knife edge”.

Palace are in administration after mounting debts caught up with the south London team earlier this season and a potential deal to sell the club to a group of local businessmen has yet to be completed.

The failure to find a new owner has left Guilfoyle without enough money to continue paying all Palace’s staff and, with no player sales having been completed in time to raise enough cash, he has been forced to make nearly half the club’s workforce redundant.

Palace, who were deducted 10 points for going into administration, avoided relegation to League One after a 2-2 draw at fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday on the last day of the season, but Guilfoyle admits the club remains in a perilous position.

He told Sky Sports News: “In quite simple terms I’m out of cash and it’s the end of the month and people are expected to be paid and I’ve had to inform the staff that I’m not currently in a position to pay them.

“I also need to make redundancies as I move forward into June. I need to reduce the amount of pay so a large number of people have been made redundant.

“It’s not over, but the club is on a knife-edge. I’m not funded and at this time of year there’s very little income coming into the club but there’s still a lot of expenditure going out in terms of wages. I’m juggling with all those difficulties.”