by Daniel Jones

ADMINISTRATOR Brendan Guilfoyle has revealed the proposed takeover of Crystal Palace is "delicately poised".

Almost three weeks have passed since a consortium of wealthy supporters known as CPFC 2010 were named as the club's preferred bidder.

Their offer to rescue the Eagles hinges on the successful acquisition of Selhurst Park, which is being sold by estate agents CB Richard Ellis on behalf of administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Guilfoyle (pictured, right) confirmed the two parties were in deep negotiations but voiced concerns that PWC were playing hard-ball over the selling price.

"The stadium administrator seems to think they are in a rather comfortable position," he said. "I know they are in discussions with [CPFC 2010] but I don't know what the two parties are saying.

"It seems to me the logical thing for PWC to do would be to thrash out a deal with the group that are buying the club.

"Their only other options are to sell it to someone who continues to lease it back to the club, but I'm not sure how much longer the club could afford to pay the rent, certainly at the price it is.

"Or they sell it to a developer who waits five to 10 years to get granted planning permission."

Guilfoyle has stated that he will run out of money to keep Palace afloat at the end of the season. If the deal is not wrapped up near that time then first team players will have to be sold off to balance the books and severe cuts made across all areas of the football club. He admitted there is a chance such drastic action could be avoided if CPFC 2010 decide to inject some cash into the project. But, so far, there has been little indication that they intend to put any money in until the issue of the stadium is resolved.

"There has been no real commitment that they plan to do that," said Guilfoyle. "They have lodged funds (£10million) but so far I haven't touched it and I don't imagine that they want to splash any more money around. These guys are supporters, but they are serious businessmen too. Their whole business plan is centred around spending a lot of money on the stadium. They believe the facilities are poor, the main stand is close to being condemned and they want to spend a lot of money doing up the ground to get more families back to Selhurst Park.

"But obviously to do this, they need to get hold of the stadium. Things are very delicately poised at the moment and the ball is in the court of the stadium's administrators."

CPFC 2010 spokesman David Jensen said: "Negotiations are ongoing. There are lots of things to go through, not only with the ground, although that remains top of the list. It is a major obstacle but hopefully not an insurmountable one.

"It is a very complicated and complex situation, but hopefully we will have some good news soon.

"The consortium are still aiming to save the club. As fans themselves they understand that this needs to be done as soon as possible, but unfortunately these things do take time."