Thursday 17 December 2015 16:35, UK
Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew is looking forward to a new era at Selhurst Park following news of major investment at the Premier League club.
A group of American businessmen have agreed a £100m deal to buy a major stake in Palace.
The group includes Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who are the owners of NBA team the Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL franchise the New Jersey Devils.
Harris and Blitzer will each take an 18 per cent stake in Palace as a result of the deal, with 70 per cent of shares changing hands.
Eagles chairman Steve Parish took control at Selhurst Park along with Stephen Browett, Jeremy Hosking and Martin Long in 2010, and he will retain an equal shareholding alongside the new investors in what is known as an executive general partnership, and continue the day-to-day running of the club.
A sum of £50m has also been set aside to redevelop the club's stadium, with further investment likely.
Pardew has played a part in the talks, and has been impressed by Harris and Blitzer.
"Well, I've been involved to some degree with Josh and David. I see they have a passion with this football club that's grown over the last 18 months of them having a close look at us," Pardew said.
"It goes alongside the passion the chairman has, and myself, for the football club. And we hope together it will sort of embark on a new era for the football club.
"I look at clubs like Bolton and the current situation they are in, and I think about this football club not so very long ago, that a phoenix can rise, and what we want to do is keep rising."
Pardew also revealed he was aware of the boardroom developments when he started talking to Palace almost a year ago about filling the managerial vacancy.
He said: "Yes, it was on the agenda of course, and it wasn't by any means a deal that was ratified in any way, but there were very strong feelings the guys would come on board and of course I needed to be part of that to understand what Steve Parish's vision was for the football club.
"If it wasn't that vision he sold me, I probably wouldn't be here, so Steve Parish deserves a lot of credit for where this football club is. And the players and my team deserves some credit too to get us in a position where we've got this kind of backing."
The deal was 18 months in the making, and Parish has explained in an exclusive interview with Soccer Saturday how he sees the new relationship developing.
Parish said: "Josh, David and I will control the club. The guys who were in before, who have been brilliant, will reduce their shareholding. And then there are some other people coming in as well in that secondary shareholding pool.
"So it is a new era for the club, we need to be clear about that, the ownership structure is changing. But I still have day-to-day control and I can still stop anything happening."
