Nottingham Forest are gearing up for a campaign playing European football for the first time in 30 years next season.
The Reds have qualified for the UEFA Conference League after finishing seventh in the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Forest will be entering the Conference League at the final play-off stage, and if they overcome a two-legged tie, they will then play six games in a group stage.
However, Forest’s hopes of playing in the Europa League haven’t quite been extinguished just yet.
Crystal Palace have been found guilty of not submitting the right multi-owner paperwork and now, John Textor is left sweating on the Eagles’ place in the competition.
Photo by Michael Regan - The FA/The FA via Getty Images
Photo by Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images
How Evangelos Marinakis feels about Crystal Palace hearing
According to an article from The Telegraph, Marinakis is keeping close tabs on the ordeal that Palace are facing with UEFA.
It’s claimed that senior figures behind the scenes believe that the place in next season’s Europa League should belong to Forest and not Palace.
The Eagles secured their place by winning the FA Cup, but failed to submit the relevant paperwork just in case they went all the way to Wembley and won the trophy.
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That means they’ve broken the rules, strictly speaking, and now the involved parties are waiting for UEFA to make their final decision.
If Palace get thrown out, Forest will be promoted to the Europa League, whilst Brighton will get the Conference League spot by virtue of their eighth place finish in the Premier League.
Forest need Europa League answer sharpish
Being in the Europa League could seriously impact the club’s recruitment drive, and a solution is required so that plans can be made.
On one hand, Palace deserve their place in the competition, but it feels like supreme incompetence from Textor to not submit the paperwork.
There was little sympathy when Forest missed their PSR deadline to sell Brennan Johnson and were subsequently deducted four points for doing so.
There can be little sympathy towards Palace if they end up missing out on Europe for the first time, and Forest are waiting in the wings to capitalise.