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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