28 Jan 2010

Palace in administration

6:22 am on 28 January 2010

The English football club Crystal Palace have been placed into administration.

The Championship or second division club say the administrators have been appointed to rescue the club and reconstruct its finances and they'll be urgently seeking buyers.

Speculation swirled around the south London club after media reports suggested it had struggled to pay its players.

Palace are ninth in the table, having been on the fringes of the promotion playoff places most of the season as they attempt to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2005.

However, administration leads to an automatic 10-point penalty which would leave them battling to avoid relegation.