The major hurdle in Palace's marathon survival chase so far, has been the insistence of creditors such as European clubs Juventus and Strasbourg that they be paid the money owed to them in full.

With that joint figure thought to be around £5.5m many prospective buyers of the club have been discouraged by the knowledge that it would have to come out of their pockets.

Palace had offered the clubs a settlement, but it is thought that they refused opting to push for the full payment.

But last week, football's governing body FIFA and said it would not support the clubs in their claims for full payments.

Coppell said, "Yes it is good news, but there has to be a purchase as an outcome, if there is no purchase then it's made no difference, but I am hopeful as I've been all season."

The main hope of a purchase is coming from Jerry Lim, but according to Coppell, the mysterious businessman has been slow to react to the developments.

"Simon Paterson (the club's administrator) has told me that this move is a step forward but Mr Lim hasn't exactly been busting a gut to sign a cheque this week," he said.

If Palace's nightmare story does find a happy ending in time for next season, then they will surely be competing in Division One again despite Saturday's Selhurst defeat.

A draw from Tuesday's game at Ipswich would have left the Eagles only one point from mathematical safety, so it would have been his team's tired performance which would have bothered Coppell most about Saturday's defeat against Birmingham.

The Midlanders' opening goal came on the stroke of half time, courtesy of Dean Austin's very passable imitation of Roy Keane's Champions league howler against Real Madrid.

The ball came in from Gary Rowett, scorer of an even more embarrassing own goal in last year's corresponding fixture, and Austin sliced the ball out of the hands of the waiting stand in keeper Matthew Gregg, into the net.

And in the 62nd minute, Dele Adebola crossed for striker Paul Furlong to finish Palace off with a neat finish six yards out.

With Crystal Palace having the chance of attaining mathematical safety in Tuesday's match at Ipswich, Saturday's clash with Blackburn could be the closest to a meaningless match Palace have had all season.