P Diddy eyeing Crystal Palace?

How's this for a WTF of the Week?

According to The Sun today, rapper and business genius P Diddy is eyeing up a bid for ailing Crystal Palace Football Club. Stay with me. Diddy, otherwise known as Sean Combs, supposedly confirmed through his UK spokesperson that he is interested in a move for the club which is currently in administration and staring the possibility of relegation to League One right in the face.

There was apparently a discussion about Diddy's choice of club, with Portsmouth being the other potential beneficiary of his significant fortune. In what seems like a very wise decision, Palace have edged Pompey out of the picture because the prospective owner "could cover their debt and bankroll a return to the Premier League". That certainly makes sense to me, and the fact that Diddy reportedly likes the name Crystal Palace (hence The Sun's 'Cristal Palace' headline) probably has less to do with any interest than the fact that Palace are located in London. Sort of.

I shouldn't be calling him Diddy, of course. What with both Palace and twofootedtackle being based in the UK, we should remember that he remains "P Diddy" here thanks to his settlement with Richard "Diddy" Dearlove, a UK-based producer who took umbrage when Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy aka P Diddy changed his name to Diddy. I have a nice belt from his clothing range, though. Very smart.

The temptation is to dismiss this story out of hand either as a load of old bollocks or, worse, bad news for Palace and for English football more generally. Personally I reckon it's bollocks, but let's look at this in more detail and see if there aren't some positives to be considered.

Firstly, of course, Crystal Palace is a football club in dire need of salvation. If P Diddy were to come in and wipe out the debt, the future would suddenly become brighter at Selhurst Park which, incidentally, I presume he'd buy too. In a sense this potential bid is less repulsive than it might have been because of the club's current perilous state. Although Puff is unlikely to be seeing this as an exercise in altruism, I'd be more inclined to give him a chance because of his timing and the fact that he could effectively save a much-loved football club.

Leaving aside my own reservations about football clubs being owned by the disinterested (or even malicious) super-rich, P Diddy doesn't sound like too ridiculous an owner. The concern would be that he doesn't know what he's doing in charge of a football club, and one of our Twitter followers, MarkWhyy, drew a valid comparison with Jay-Z's ownership of the New Jersey Nets basketball team. Under the rapper, the Nets' form has been on the slide and key ballers have moved on. Mark is unimpressed, and argues that rappers in charge of sports institutions is not a promising proposition.

But while I share plenty of that opinion with Mark, I think there's an important distinction to be drawn. Jay-Z's business acumen is more than adequate but Diddy's is legendary. The man has brilliantly promoted himself throughout his career and using business deals, products, partnerships and graft, has elevated himself from run-of-the-mill rapper to unfathomably rich businessman. And that's where he's different to Jay-Z: I would hope that P Diddy, who has no experience in football, has a wise enough business head to put in the money and use his face to raise the club's profile, but appoint a chief executive with footballing business nous and knowledge. Peter Storrie need not apply.

That said, no club should be a millionaire's plaything. With no similar precedent, it's difficult to make an assumption either way. But it does sound unlikely that a high-profile character like Combs would be interested in football for it's meagre money-making potential or just for the fun of it - he's not going to be quiet, in other words. But I can't see him throwing money down the drain and he's smart enough to know that neglecting or mismanaging this particular investment would result in exactly that. He's not stupid.

In a nutshell, I don't think this would necessarily be a bad thing. And now I've said that I look forward to finding out either that this is a hoax, or that The Sun picked the story up from some wag satirist and has made us all look like mugs. It's April 1st soon, too.

But for now, what do you think? P Diddy for Palace? Everybody to the Escalade!