Crystal Palace to announce investment from US businessmen

Crystal Palace expect to soon announce new investment from Americans David Blitzer and Josh Harris. The duo, who co-own the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, are reportedly close to completing a deal to take 18% of the London club, equal to co-chairman Steve Parish, who will retain day-to-day control. Parish’s fellow Palace fans Stephen Browett, Jeremy Hosking and Martin Long, who alongside the former rescued the club from bankruptcy in 2010, will reduce their present 25% stakes to 15.33%.

Speaking to the BBC, Parish, who is expected to prioritize redeveloping Selhurst Park, said:

“(I am) really hopeful we can get it done.

“I want to move fast and to do that you need big funds. I’m prepared to do my bit, the three boys who are involved with me are prepared to do their bit.

“But we need to bring some new people in to accelerate it and make sure we’ve got everything we need. If I was a Palace fan, and I am, I’d be fantastically excited about the future.

“I really want to see the club fulfil the potential it should have fulfilled. We’ve had our share of bad luck: it’s time we put the record straight.

“There is a real buzz about soccer, football, in the US and we need to capitalize on it. So we’ll be back and forth here as much as we can trying to grab our fair share of support.”

The investment from Blitzer and Harris — the latter, who was once credited with a serious interest in buying out Palace’s South London rivals Charlton in 2013 — is also expected to be spent on upgrading the club’s already recently-improved training ground, and scouting network.