Forest target Palace's place in Europe

Nottingham Forest have written to Uefa with their concerns about Crystal Palace participating in the Europa League when they could be in breach of multi-club ownership rules.

Palace met Uefa officials last week in a bid to avoid exclusion from the competition because John Textor, the American businessman who has a 43 per cent stake in the club, also owns Lyon, who have qualified for the competition too. Uefa is looking to rule on the matter by the end of this month.

But The Times understands that Forest, who would be promoted from the Conference League to the Europa League should Palace be deemed non-compliant with multi-club ownership rules, have been in correspondence with Uefa on the matter.

Palace’s Europa League place could yet hinge on whether Uefa decides to allow Lyon to take part in the competition next season. Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) disqualified Lyon from European competitions in December but allowed them to continue after the club met certain demands. However, Lyon are being “carefully monitored” by the CFCB and if they are deemed to be in breach of a settlement agreement they could be disqualified from next season’s Europa League.

If Lyon are allowed to participate, insiders believe the Palace case could end up at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If Palace are kicked out, it is likely they would challenge the decision at CAS, while Forest could take the matter to the Swiss court if Palace are still deemed eligible.

If Palace were instead demoted to the Conference League, that in turn could lead to a challenge from rivals Brighton & Hove Albion, who stand to secure European football if Palace are considered non-compliant with rules that obliged sister clubs to set up separate ownership structures before March 1 if they hoped to play in the same competition next season.

Understandably, Palace feel they deserve to play on merit in the Europa League after winning the FA Cup, their first major trophy.

But rival clubs such as Forest and Brighton did take such steps to separate their ownership structures from those of other clubs in European competitions. The Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, diluted his control of the club because he also owns the Greek team Olympiacos.

Palace chiefs met the CFCB at the Uefa headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on Tuesday to present their case, arguing that, whatever happens to Lyon, they are not in breach of the rules as the clubs are not part of the same ownership group and do not share any staff, facilities or information.

While Textor’s company, League Football Holdings, owns 43 per cent of Palace’s shares, the club argue that he has no say over day-to-day operations. Textor, 59, has only 25 per cent of the voting rights at Palace, alongside Steve Parish, the chairman, and two other partners, Josh Harris and David Blitzer, and indeed has previously spoken about his frustration at the lack of influence he has at Selhurst Park. He has also been trying to sell his shares in Palace for months, which could yet be bought by either Harris or Blitzer to resolve the situation quickly.

This all strikes me as being at odds with the spirit of the game rather than the letter of the law, but others might argue that rules should be applied rigorously and not interpreted generouly. The way things are going lawyers could once again be the beneficiaries and there could be a period of uncertainty which would be unhelpful to both clubs.

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The Political Economy of Football V2

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