PALACE LAUNCH APPEAL AFTER EUROPE LEAGUE SETBACK
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BY OWOLABI OLUWADARA
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has validated that his organization will contest the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport following their relegation from the Europa League.
Palace secured a berth in the Europa League with a surprising FA Cup final victory against Manchester City in May.
But UEFA, European football’s governing body, ruled Palace should drop down to the Conference League over a conflict of interest involving the club’s former director John Textor, who also part-owns French side Lyon.
Textor departed from Palace at the beginning of July, but the ownership matter pertains to the conclusion of the previous season when the south London club achieved their inaugural European appearance by claiming the first significant accolade in their history.
UEFA’s determination would imply that Nottingham Forest, which concluded the season in seventh position in the Premier League, would assume Palace’s position in the Europa League; however, Parish has indicated his intention to challenge the verdict.
“We are still fighting,” Parish told the The Rest is Football podcast. “There’s an appeal process, so we go to CAS which is the court for arbitration and, you know, we’re very hopeful. We think we’ve got great legal arguments.
“We do not believe this is the appropriate decision in any sense. We are fully aware that John did not possess significant influence over the club”.
“We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it’s a fact.”
UEFA regulations stipulate that no proprietor or co-proprietor may possess a dominating stake in more than one club participating in the identical European tournament within the same season.
Palace’s position throughout has been that Textor did not have a sufficiently controlling role for the club to fall foul of the regulations.
However, the due date for shareholders to relinquish their stake in a club, or to modify their ownership arrangement in another manner, to adhere to the regulations was March 1.
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