Crystal Palace have commenced preliminary work on the redevelopment of Selhurst Park, with chairman Steve Parish saying a new Main Stand is essential if the club want to remain competitive in the Premier League.
The rebuild of the stadium, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in August, has taken longer than anticipated due to the Covid-19 pandemic, securing funding, and the requirement to submit an amended planning application last year.
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But Palace have now started work with a view to commencing major construction later this year. The temporary buildings between the Holmesdale Road and Main Stands, which have stood for almost 30 years and host the opposition team dressing rooms and club’s offices, are in the process of being removed.
The away dressing rooms will move to underneath the Holmesdale, where £1million ($1.3m) is being spent on water retention tanks to drain water away from the flooded basement — once the subject of a rejected planning application to build a bowling alley under previous owner Ron Noades. Space on another tier under the stand is expected to be used as a car park due to the loss of the current club car park. This space will also house a new kitchen to facilitate all matchday and non-matchday hospitality requirements.
Work is underway to build the club’s new offices, which are being relocated to the back of the Whitehorse Lane stand where Crystals nightclub was previously located.
Palace are also building a virtual reality model of the stadium to assist in the visualisation of the changes being made to the Main Stand.
It is the most significant on-site work since plans to redevelop Selhurst Park were first announced in 2017 and planning permission was granted in principle in April 2018.
Palace believe they can keep the Stanley Stephenson Lounge and Speroni’s restaurant open until the end of the 2024-25 season, but all options are being considered to make construction work around it. Temporary hospitality facilities will eventually be constructed in part of the existing stand currently occupied by the club’s offices and part of the car park.
Parish admitted the stadium project “was a little behind” but that the club was fully committed to completing it. The rebuild is expected to take around two-and-a-half years once piling — driving the foundations into the ground — begins.
Here, we consider what this latest phase of the stadium project means for the club.
What is the significance of this summer’s construction work?
Even if major work is not being undertaken this summer, Selhurst will look different by the start of the new season. That preliminary work, which will free up space for construction vehicles and allow the construction of the support towers for the stand’s roof, has begun and was necessary before anything else could start.
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Although the major work is not expected to commence until at least later this year, with the club now tendering for quotes and deciding on a main contractor for the project, the work being undertaken is important.
“The project is a little behind, but there’s a lot more going on that it seems,” Parish tells The Athletic. “You can see from the images the preliminary build works and some of the intricate planning that’s needed to ensure we don’t have expensive overruns.
“All of the work we are undertaking now – moving offices so everyone, including the Palace Foundation, is together, building a marketing suite, tanking the Holmesdale basement to build temporary away dressing rooms — these are all essential steps.”
The initial phase of work will involve demolishing the five council-owned houses and one privately owned home in nearby Wooderson Close. The club has begun the process of obtaining a compulsory purchase order for the privately owned home.
Palace have agreed with the council to purchase the Wooderson Close homes and have an option to purchase a parcel of land from Sainsbury’s supermarket.
The club and Croydon Council signed a side letter in December as requested by the Greater London Authority (GLA), which set out matters separate from the existing Section 106 agreement and primarily relate to the sale of the Wooderson Close properties.
It requires Palace to pay the council the market value of the homes plus 2.5 per cent.
Why is Parish so committed to the redevelopment?
Parish believes the redevelopment is crucial to improving the chances of competing with others financially.
“We need to increase the revenues of the club,” he said. “This will become even more relevant if squad cost ratios do come into play but also competitively, we need to generate the turnover and move into the same income as the other clubs with larger stadiums — Villa, Newcastle, West Ham, for example — some of which are looking to expand. It’s so important we keep up.
“It’s about doing the right things for the club over the long term, including performing as well as we can on the pitch.”
Do the other general partners share his ambition?
All three of the club’s other general partners — John Textor, David Blitzer and Josh Harris — are committed to the redevelopment. That is despite Textor having engaged investment banking firm Raine Group to seek a buyer for his Eagle Football group’s 45 per cent shareholding in Palace.
Textor’s priorities for Palace have mainly revolved around being bolder in the transfer market, as well as using his multi-club model to move players into clubs where there are gaps — a philosophy contrasting with Parish’s long-term, more strategic vision.
But Textor previously told The Athletic he would continue to contribute funds towards the Selhurst Park project should he not find a buyer for his shareholding and new financing was required.
How will it affect other aspects of the club’s operations, including transfers?
Stadium redevelopment costs have risen beyond the £100million originally anticipated for the project, but the club do not have any concerns over funding. Relegation would also not affect the plans.
A £45million capital call in January, where shareholders invest according to the percentage of their stakes in the club, has allowed for the club’s debt to be paid down and free up cash to help fund the redevelopment, which will see the stadium’s capacity rise to 34,259 from its existing 25,486.
The hope is to finance the redevelopment without needing to take on any additional debt, while funds for potential transfers will not be diverted towards the stadium. The club have already made progress in the market this summer, making moves for Morocco defender Chadi Riad and Japan international midfielder Daichi Kamada.
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Palace are aware that there is considerable interest in their own star players. Chelsea, Newcastle United and Bayern Munich have made contact with the club over the possibility of signing Michael Olise, while Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Jean-Philippe Mateta have also attracted attention.
But any possible departures – both Olise and Eze have release clauses in the region of £60million – would not be linked to financing the stadium redevelopment.
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Why has it taken so long?
Logistical problems arose when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020 and Parish opted instead to prioritise the redevelopment of the club’s academy — a smaller and less expensive project at around £30m.
Agreeing a deal with Sainsbury’s and putting in place everything required for the revised planning application are other reasons for the delay in a project that was initially due to be completed by the start of the 2021-22 season.
What happens now?
Palace will progress with the stadium redevelopment while concluding the peripheral deals required.
They must find a site for, and build, the equivalent homes they are demolishing within the same area to ensure no net loss of housing, while signing the Wooderson Close and Section 106 agreements will allow them to move beyond the initial phases of the project.
It may have taken longer than hoped, but the pieces are starting to fit into place for the much-needed redevelopment of Selhurst.
(Top photo: Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)