John Textor appeared on talkSPORT with Simon Jordan on Thursday morning to discuss the current multi-club ownership issue with Crystal Palace and Lyon.
UEFA are meeting today to discuss whether Crystal Palace will be allowed to compete in the Europa League next season.
The governing body are threatening to demote Palace to the Conference League due to John Textor’s involvement in the South Londoners and Lyon, who have also qualified for Europe’s second-tier competition.
UEFA are arguing that Textor has a conflict of interest, and if that’s found to be the case, Nottingham Forest will replace Palace in the Europa League.
Textor has been fighting his corner throughout, and now he has revealed that UEFA have seen a document that should allow Palace to maintain their spot.
John Textor of R.W.D. Molenbeek Press Conference
Photo by Isosport/MB Media/Getty Images
John Textor reveals document that proves Crystal Palace should compete in Europa League instead of Nottingham Forest
Textor has claimed that UEFA have actually received a document that proves he has zero per cent influence on the management decisions at Crystal Palace.
“The reasons are in documents that the public hasn’t seen. Number one, we shouldn’t talk about whether or not I have 43% vote or whether I have a 25% vote, we should talk about zero,” Textor explained.
“Because the document that I signed, when I signed on to the shares, says clearly, I’m not entitled to have any role in management decisions.
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When asked by Simon Jordan if UEFA have seen that evidence, Textor replied: “Yeah they’ve seen that document and I’ve sat there in the room and said ‘okay, stop talking about the 25% and using that argument because it’s below the UEFA threshold of 30%.'”
Jordan pressed Textor on whether he had discussed the multi-club ownership issue with Crystal Palace chiefs prior to the March 1st deadline.
“No, it wasn’t discussed. Number one, when the memo came out, they changed the rule at UEFA this particular year, they moved up the date to March 1st, but they didn’t actually make that official until the last week of February.
“So when they sent out the memo sort of warning everybody that you should take a look at your multi-club problem, one, nobody saw the memo, it goes to your inbox at [email protected] or something, but at that time, I think Palace were sitting in the relegation zone.
“And then we do a Cup run… but the point is my document says I have zero per cent vote, so why would that be a problem?”
Lyon decision is good news for Nottingham Forest
One positive bit of news that has emerged over the last 24 hours is that Textor’s Lyon have been reinstated into Ligue 1, having initially been relegated due to financial issues.
That means Forest could be in line to bank £26.7m as Danilo and Matt Turner’s potential transfers to the French club are back on the table.
The Tricky Trees could receive around £20m for Danilo, whilst Turner will bring in £6.7m, so those funds can be reinvested back into the squad.
Evangelos Marinakis is due to receive around £60m for Anthony Elanga, too, so the club are on really strong footing PSR-wise.
There could be some blockbuster signings on the horizon at the City Ground.