Adam Williams has now provided We Are Palace with an update on the planned redevelopment of Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace are still yet to begin construction on plans to turn Selhurst Park from a stadium with a capacity of over 26,000 into a venue holding more than 34,000 – due to unforeseen circumstances such as the pandemic which has contributed to rising costs.
Initial plans were released so long ago, that graphics of the stadium even show fans wearing Jason Puncheon and Pape Souare shirts.
Adam Williams – Head of Football Finance and Governance Content for GRV Media – can now provide an update on where Crystal Palace are at with the redevelopment of Selhurst Park.
Exclusive: Woody Johnson arrival expected to set plans back
The following paragraph – posted by the official CPFC website in December 2024 – was the last official update on Selhurst Park.
- Following a summer of preliminary works, the Main Stand development is progressing well and is currently in its final planning phase, including ongoing negotiations with contractors, with the intention of starting building works at the conclusion of the 2024/25 football season.
Since then, Woody Johnson has replaced John Textor in the boardroom, and Williams expects this to have set plans back.
The football finance expert told We Are Palace: “There have been so many false dawns with the redevelopment of Selhurst Park. The latest update was exactly that, because projected costs had soared to around £200m. They were having to re-think the expansion and look at a more cost-efficient model.
“The departure of John Textor and arrival of Woody Johnson will presumably have set things back a bit too. For all his faults, Textor was apparently always willing to provide capital for the club. We don’t know the conditions of Johnson’s deal and how much he is willing to invest. Presumably, Johnson will be ready to fund infrastructure developments like this, but raising the money is complicated and when you have a major change to your capital structure like Palace have, it is always going to delay proceedings.
“Steve Parish wants it to be funded through a mix of debt and equity. It’s not a particularly cheap time to borrow at the moment. You’re not going to get anywhere near as good terms as, say, Tottenham did when they were raising funds for their new stadium. On top of that, you have the impact of tariffs, supply chain issues in global trade and so on. That is making materials more expensive. We have seen a few stadium projects delayed on the back of that.
“It is a very charming stadium and, whatever they do, I hope that they can maintain the feel of the ground as one of the last true major Archibald Leitch stadia. Palace want to grow sustainably and I think a key part of that is maintaining their ‘brand’ – as much as bedrock fans understandably hate that word.
“There has been some talk about moving to a new stadium entirely over the years. You have to be careful what you wish for in that regard. Yes, it might be better for the top line to build a more commercially-orientated venue and you might generate more revenue in the short-term, with a higher immediate return on investment. However, that could be a case of being penny-wise and pound-foolish if you accidentally compromise the things that make the club special, and that is going to be reflected in commercial performance in the long term.
“I think Parish is aware of that, so he’ll be cognisant of marrying those two concerns together.”
Crystal Palace fans need to be understanding – the goalposts have moved
While it is unquestionably frustrating to see such a lack of progress occur on this project, it is important to consider the context.
This was expected to be a £100m redevelopment for Crystal Palace – who have hired Matt Hobbs to replace Dougie Freedman – when plans were initially announced in December 2017.
Since then, a global pandemic has occurred, which Parish – who is in talks with Oliver Glasner over a new contract – simply could not have foreseen.
It is the main reason for costs now soaring to roughly double the expected £100m outlay.
It remains to be seen how this expansion is funded or when construction will begin, but with so much groundwork already in place with Croydon Council, we still expect it to happen at some point.
