The administrators appointed to oversee the sale of Selhurst Park have warned it could be sold separate from the team that play there, Crystal Palace.
On Friday, Peter Spratt, Bruce Cartwright and Laurie Manson of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP were appointed joint administrators to Selhurst Park, having been administrators to the company owning the ground's freehold, Rock Joint Investment Holdings, since May 2009.
They have now been charged with finding a buyer for Selhurst Park after Palace went into administration three weeks ago and although Barry Gilbertson, specialist real estate partner at PWC, recognised that the ground and the club are best as a whole, he did warn they could be sold separately.
“Selhurst Park and the club play an integral part in the local community and we are sensitive to their concerns at this time," he said.
"We are keen to find an effective solution for Crystal Palace and recognise that any new buyer of the club would probably prefer to own the freehold of the ground, Selhurst Park.
“At present, the club leases the ground and the stands, which is quite an unusual situation in the English football league.
"There is undoubtedly a marriage-value from putting together the two halves of the whole.
"I would like to stress, however, that while this is one option, we will, of course, consider alternative approaches from interested parties.
“We fully intend to market the asset widely to give every possible buyer, and all the existing stakeholders, such as the Crystal Palace supporters and the CPFC Ambassadors Club, the chance to get involved in the future of Selhurst Park."
Administrator Manson added: “We are more than willing to consider any viable option.
"If the new owner of the club wants to continue to lease the ground and stands for example, then we will enter into negotiations to create a new lease on commercial market terms.
"There could also be an opportunity to renegotiate the current lease, which was created in a sale and leaseback transaction between the previous owners of the companies."
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