Crystal Palace chairman suggests Nottingham Forest played significant role in club's Europa League denial

New York Times

14 hours ago

Steve Parish has suggested that Nottingham Forest played a significant role in Crystal Palace being denied entry to next season's Europa League.
When suggested by Gary Lineker on the Rest is Football podcast that Forest had a part to play as a potential beneficiary of UEFA's decision to bar Palace from the Europa League and instead demote them to the Conference League,' Parish, the Palace chairman, agreed.
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It was deemed by UEFA's Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) that Palace, as a result of John Textor's Eagle Football group owning a majority stake in Lyon, who also qualified for the competition, and a 43 per cent stake in the south London club, which it is in the final stages of selling, had breached multi-club rules.
Palace are set to appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and are considering other avenues, but should they fail, then Forest, who previously wrote a letter to UEFA seeking clarity over the situation, will instead take their place in the competition.
'We're led to believe that's the issue,' Parish said. 'If there wasn't someone who wanted to get in as a consequence, then there wouldn't be a problem.
'People have to look at themselves in terms of what they do. Some people say it's fine, some say it's not. I don't have control of that. I have control of the arguments we put forward to UEFA.
'It does look bad. For smaller clubs like us, we're a medium-sized club. This is the dream. It's what keeps football alive. It's why everyone goes. One day, you might win a cup and qualify for Europe.
'People say 'you're in the Conference League so that's fine', but if you win the Europa League you get into the Champions League. These can be defining moments for clubs and can completely change the course of a club's history forever. Football has to take a look at itself and decide what it wants. I am led to believe that there are forces that don't want the cup winners to get into that competition.
'I think it is a mistake on so many levels because I do think football lives off the dream. There is a tail of supporters that support lots of clubs, and they think what goes on in these tournaments could one day be relevant to them. I think it goes back to the Super League – if people feel they are locked out of these competition,s then I think a lot of the broad interest in football could drain away.
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'The bottom line is we are not part of a multi-club, the person who was involved did not have decisive influence, there are many other legal points that we have got about the validity of the rule, the date, and the way it was communicated, and lots and lots of stuff. Hopefully, when we go to CAS, we will get the right answer.'
Several hundred Palace supporters marched half a mile to their Selhurst Park stadium on Tuesday evening in protest over the decision made by the CFCB to deny the club entry to the Europa League, with Parish having urged them to make their voices heard.
Organised and led by the ultras group, the Holmesdale Fanatics (HF), they chanted against UEFA, Textor, and Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis before an impassioned speech was delivered from atop an entrance to the stadium with flares lit.
The HF say they will be sending a delegation to UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, to continue their protest and appeared to suggest that they will continue to make a stand against this perceived injustice.
Palace, meanwhile, will continue to explore the formal avenues and have hired Swiss lawyers to make their case.
'We are still fighting,' Parish said. '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 don't think this is the right decision by any means,' Parish said. We know unequivocally that John didn't have decisive influence over the club. We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it's a fact.
'There are many legal points we have about the validity of the rule, the date and the way it was communicated. Hopefully, when we go to CAS we'll get the right answer.
'The legal fees are crazy. It's depressing about football. The amount of stuff that ends up in these places is bad for football. I hate that we are having to pursue things in this way. I think most fair minded people think it's the right thing that we go into the Europa League.
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'We'd get the written ruling that we had last week, then the appeal is 10 days. The Conference League draw is in August. I think (UEFA president Aleksander) Mr Ceferin could resolve this situation and it would be a good look. As it stands, and this is maybe one of the problems, if you're not in UEFA's orbit you don't really know how any of it works.'