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Encouraging signs for Palace over Europe

Crystal Palace have been asked by Uefa for more information about their ownership structure in a move that leaves the Premier League club more confident they will play in Europe next season.

The decision over whether Palace can remain in the Europa League is likely to come down to whether UEFA believe that Textor has the capacity to exercise a decisive influence in the club’s decision-making.

Palace would argue that they don’t really operate as part of a multi-club ownership model, but simply have a significant shareholder, who happens to have stakes in other clubs.

Given the lack of genuine “decisive influence” that John Textor is able to apply at Crystal Palace, any punishment that banned them from the Europa League would seem to be wildly disproportionate.

There are very good reasons why UEFA have implemented regulations to curb the excesses of multi-club ownership, but they surely weren’t designed to tarnish a fabulous story like Palace’s FA Cup win.

If the issue is simply one of timing, i.e. Palace did not set up a blind trust before the arbitrary 1 March deadline, that would frankly be absurd, as it implies that any underdog club should make this technical adjustment every year – just in case they qualify for Europe via one of the cup competitions.

All that being said, it is right and proper that UEFA review such cases, but the hope is that they do not make an example of Palace, when much bigger clubs have avoided sanctions in the past via some fancy footwork off the pitch. That would be the height of a “Computer Says No” stance.

Palace are a rival club, but it would be grossly unfair if they were unable to reap the fruits of their FA Cup victory.

That said, Uefa needs to do more hard thinking about the growth of multi-club ownership.   The rules need to be clearer.

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