Club chairman describes football rule-makers’ decision as ‘probably one of the greatest injustices that has ever happened in European football’
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Devastated: Palace chairman Steve Parish speaking to Sky Sports last night
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish was heading for New York for an emergency board meeting to decide whether he would be taking the club’s case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, after UEFA demoted the FA Cup-winners to the Conference League for a breach of club multi-ownership rules.
And there was even more anger among Eagles fans – and supporters of other clubs – as it became apparent that Nottingham Forest, the club which had objected to Palace’s participation in UEFA’s second-tier competition, look set to benefit by taking their place in the Europa League. Forest are owned by Greek media and shipping billionaire, Evangelos Marinakis, who also just happens to own shares in Olympiacos.
Parish described UEFA’s decision as “probably one of the greatest injustices that has ever happened in European football”.
Palace have never played in a major European competition.
“We’re devastated – I think it’s a bad day for football.
UEFA made its decision based on the share-holdings of John Textor, who also has shares in another Europa League club, Lyon. Textor sold his Palace stock last month, but after the March 1 UEFA deadline.
Toffees fan: John Textor says his offers to buy-out Palace’s other co-owners were ignored " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-23-at-16-52-09-John-Textor-admits-Crystal-Palace-snub-has-led-him-to-Everton-takeover-Crystal-Palace-The-Guardian.png?fit=300%2C180&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-23-at-16-52-09-John-Textor-admits-Crystal-Palace-snub-has-led-him-to-Everton-takeover-Crystal-Palace-The-Guardian.png?fit=640%2C384&ssl=1" class="size-medium wp-image-183328" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-23-at-16-52-09-John-Textor-admits-Crystal-Palace-snub-has-led-him-to-Everton-takeover-Crystal-Palace-The-Guardian.png?resize=300%2C180&ssl=1" alt width="300" height="180" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-23-at-16-52-09-John-Textor-admits-Crystal-Palace-snub-has-led-him-to-Everton-takeover-Crystal-Palace-The-Guardian.png?resize=300%2C180&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-23-at-16-52-09-John-Textor-admits-Crystal-Palace-snub-has-led-him-to-Everton-takeover-Crystal-Palace-The-Guardian.png?resize=150%2C90&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-23-at-16-52-09-John-Textor-admits-Crystal-Palace-snub-has-led-him-to-Everton-takeover-Crystal-Palace-The-Guardian.png?w=701&ssl=1 701w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px">
Slow seller: John Textor left it late to sell his stock in Palace
Parish said he would like to see UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin intervene in the matter.
In a statement on the club’s website, Crystal Palace said: “It’s clear for everyone to see that we are not part of a multi-club operation and never have been.
“Further with the completion of the sale of Eagle football’s shareholding to Woody Johnson there will be zero possibility of a conflict of interest once the competition begins.
“We will continue to press our case and work with UEFA to achieve the fair and just outcome so that we may take our rightful place in the Europa League, as well as taking legal advice to consider our options, including an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
Nottingham Forest are in line to be promoted from the Conference League to take Palace’s Europa League spot. The Palace ruling had been expected after Lyon won their appeal against relegation to Ligue 2 (on financial grounds), clearing them to take their place in the tournament.
Clubs with the same owner are barred from competing in the same UEFA competition. UEFA said that its club financial control body had concluded that the multi-club ownership criteria had been breached by Palace.
Leading football writer Henry Winter this morning suggested an alternative solution: a Palace v Lyon play-off. Tweeting that the Eagles will need decent legal eagles to fight their case, Winter described the situation as “common sense v the rules”.
“If Palace do go to CAS, I hope the FA go with them in support,” Winter said.
“Palace fans, players and management, the whole club, brought such joy and renewed relevance to the FA Cup. I hope the FA remembers that. The ruling is, indirectly… an attack on the FA Cup.”
A celebrity Palace fans Kevin Day and Mark Steel also had their two penn’orth to pitch in.
xxx: celebrity Palace fan Kevin Day is not amused " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Kevin-Day-with-book.jpg?fit=225%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Kevin-Day-with-book.jpg?fit=510%2C680&ssl=1" class="size-medium wp-image-207034" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Kevin-Day-with-book.jpg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1" alt width="225" height="300" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Kevin-Day-with-book.jpg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1 225w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Kevin-Day-with-book.jpg?resize=113%2C150&ssl=1 113w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Kevin-Day-with-book.jpg?w=510&ssl=1 510w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px">
‘Morally bankrupt’: celebrity Palace fan Kevin Day is not amused
“Of all the financial shithousery that’s gone on in football, from World Cups in Qatar to Man City’s 115 charges, a punishment is finally served, on Palace for a bureaucratic detail that no one benefits from,” wrote comedian and author Steel.
“You can’t help wonder if this world protects the super-wealthy a bit.”
And Day called UEFA’s decision “shameful”.
“The same week they fine Lyon for breaching economic regulations they allow them to compete in the Europa League but not us.
“A morally bankrupt organisation protecting the interests of a near-financially bankrupt club.”
And for fans out there of bitter irony out there… The 2026 UEFA Conference League final is due to be staged at the RB Arena in Leipzig… that’s right, in the home stadium of a club owned by Red Bull GmbH, the company which also has significant ownership stakes in Austria’s RB Salzburg, as well as clubs on three other continents.
If Parish and Crystal Palace had any need for motivation to win their first European trophy, it is surely right there.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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