CRYSTAL Palace Football Club have been hauled back from the brink of extinction after the CPFC 2010 consortium finally agreed a deal in principle to buy the club and its Selhurst Park ground.

The administrator in charge of the Coca-Cola Championship club, who have debts of £30million, gave them until 3pm on Tuesday to reach an agreement with Lloyds Bank before the liquidation process was due to begin.

Hundreds of Palace fans who had gathered outside the bank's headquarters to demonstrate were fearing the worst when that deadline passed. But negotiations were continuing behind closed doors and the deal has now been struck, saving the 105-year-old club from going out of business in the nick of time.