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EPL club Crystal Palace lands new backer as Woody Johnson joins Investors
I am honoured and privileged to be joining the ownership group of Crystal Palace Football Club, Johnson told the club website Thursday.
Palace announced last month that Johnson had signed a legally binding contract to buy the shares of fellow American John Textor, who had a 43% stake in the London club, with reports at the time placing the price between $220 million and $260 million.
The latest club statement gave no financial details.
Johnson joins chairman Steve Parish, Josh Harris and David Blitzer as a partner and director of the club, and has also signed the Premier League's Owners' Charter.
It is an organization with a proud history, tradition, and deep roots in English football in South London, which I came to admire during my time as US Ambassador to the United Kingdom," Johnson said.
Palace finished 12th last season in the 20-team Premier League.
Competition dispute Johnson's arrival at Palace comes with the club in dispute with UEFA over which European competition it will play in next season after winning the FA Cup in May its first major trophy in 120 years of existence.
Palace was demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League after falling foul of UEFA's rules governing multi-club ownership, but has submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
UEFA determined that as of March 1, Textor had control or influence in Palace and French club Lyon.
Textor said he had agreed to sell his stake in Palace to Johnson, but the move came too late to satisfy UEFA.
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Indian Express
27 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh play out a second classical draw. Now what to expect in the tiebreakers of World Cup final?
If the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 wasn't already a physically exhausting and mentally draining tournament, it became all the more so on Sunday after Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy took their all-Indian final clash into an extra day in Batumi, Georgia. The second classical game of their final ended in a draw, pushing the decider to a tiebreak on Monday. While the first leg was a tale of missed opportunities for Divya, the second leg saw a different approach from Humpy, who opted for a non-risky opening with White. She began with knight to f3 from the right flank, choosing a well-known English opening, sticking to her strength, which is positional chess, in the hope of grinding Divya down later in the game. The players quickly exchanged all minor pieces, except for Humpy's dark-squared bishop, which she retained in exchange for Divya's knight, with queens still on the board for counterplay. GM Pravin Thipsay analysed Humpy's opening choice: 'It was expected that Humpy would try to press for an advantage, and that's what happened. She began with the English opening but eventually transposed into the regular Queen's Gambit Declined, the Semitarash variation,' Thipsay told The Indian Express. Explaining Humpy's middle-game strategy, Thipsay added: 'I expected her to play for a better pawn structure, as she excels at exploiting weaknesses. But on move 9, she had a choice between a bishop-over-knight advantage or a superior pawn structure and she opted for the former. In my opinion, a pawn structure advantage would have suited her better.' By the 22nd move, the players entered an endgame with equal pawns, though Humpy sought an edge with her active bishop, placing it on long diagonals. She even sacrificed a central pawn to keep the position sharp and pressure Divya into an error. 'Divya exchanged one of Humpy's knights for a bishop on move 9, and on the 12th move, she gave up her second bishop for a knight, leading to a complex but roughly equal position in a symmetrical pawn structure,' said Thipsay. 'Double bishops are generally better than double knights, but this was a semi-open position with central pawns. I've played this structure many times, and the advantage isn't significant. Divya correctly exchanged rooks, and by the 20th move, a draw seemed inevitable.' 'But Humpy took bold decisions,' he added. 'She sacrificed a pawn on move 23, putting Divya in a tricky spot. Divya missed the best 24th move, which would have forced a draw. After that, Humpy had chances, especially on move 28, where she could have regained the pawn with some advantage.' However, Humpy allowed Divya's position to improve before regaining her pawn, by which point she also forced Divya to end the game by perpetual checks. 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News18
37 minutes ago
- News18
US, EU reach an across the board agreement on tariffs
Edinburgh(UK), Jul 27(AP) The United States and the European Union reached a tariff deal Sunday after a brief meeting between President Donald Trump and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. A White House deadline was days away for imposing punishing import taxes on the 27-member EU, which is America's leading global trading partner. 'It was a very interesting negotiation. I think it's going to be great for both parties," Trump said. The make-or-break talks were meant to head off trade penalties — and promised retaliation from Europe — that could have sent shock waves through economies around the globe. Trump and von der Leyen held private talks at one of Trump's golf courses in Scotland, then emerged a short time later saying they had reached an 'across the board" agreement. In remarks before the session, Trump pledged to change what he characterised as 'a very one-sided transaction, very unfair to the United States." 'I think the main sticking point is fairness," he said while also noting, 'We've had a hard time with trade with Europe, a very hard time." Von der Leyen had said the US and EU combined have the world's largest trade volume, encompassing hundreds of millions of people and trillions of dollars. Trump said the stakes involved meant of making a deal, 'We should give it a shot." Von der Leyen said Trump was 'known as a tough negotiator and dealmaker" which caused the president to interject with "but fair." She said that, if they are successful, 'I think it would be the biggest deal each of us has ever struck." For months, Trump has threatened most of the world with large tariffs in hopes of shrinking major US trade deficits with many key trading partners. More recently, he had hinted that any deal with the EU would have to 'buy down" the currently scheduled tariff rate of 30 per cent. The Republican president pointed to a recent US agreement with Japan that set tariff rates for many goods at 15 per cent and suggested the EU could agree to something similar. Asked if he would be willing to accept tariff rates lower than that, Trump said 'no." As for the threat of retaliation from the Europeans, he said: 'They'll do what they have to do." Their meeting came after Trump played golfed for the second straight day at his Turnberry course, this time with a group that included sons Eric and Donald Jr The president's five-day visit to Scotland is built around golf and promoting properties bearing his name. A small group of demonstrators at the course waved American flags and raised a sign criticizing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who plans his own Turnberry meeting with Trump on Monday. Other voices could be heard cheering and chanting 'Trump! Trump!" as he played nearby. On Tuesday, Trump will be in Aberdeen, in northeastern Scotland, where his family has another golf course and is opening a third next month. The president and his sons plan to help cut the ribbon on the new course. Joining von der Leyen were Maros Sefcovic, the EU's chief trade negotiator; Björn Seibert, the head of von der Leyen's Cabinet; Sabine Weyand, the commission's directorate-general for trade, and Tomas Baert, head of the trade and agriculture at the EU's delegation to the US. The deadline for the Trump administration to begin imposing tariffs has shifted in recent weeks but was now firm, the administration insisted. 'No extensions, no more grace periods. August 1, the tariffs are set, they'll go into place, Customs will start collecting the money and off we go," US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told 'Fox News Sunday." He added, however, that even after that 'people can still talk to President Trump. I mean, he's always willing to listen." Without an agreement, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes. If Trump eventually made good on his threat of tariffs against Europe, it could meant that everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals would be more expensive in the United States. The US and Britain, meanwhile, announced a trade framework in May and a larger agreement last month during the Group of Seven meeting in Canada. Trump says that deal is concluded and that he and Starmer will discuss other matters — though the White House has suggested it still needs some polishing. (AP) RD RD view comments First Published: July 27, 2025, 23:45 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
US, EU clinch trade pact ahead of August 1 deadline; Trump says 'good deal for everybody'
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