John Textor is attempting to sell his 43% stake in Crystal Palace so the club avoids being denied European competition next season. Palace’s participation in the Europa League has been thrown into doubt by Uefa multi-club rules that bar sides with the same owner from competing in the same continental event. Textor is Palace’s largest shareholder and the owner of Lyon, who are also due to take part in the tournament.
Officials from Palace and Uefa met in Nyon on Tuesday and a decision is expected in the next 10 days. Despite the size of Textor’s stake, he has only 25% of voting rights at Palace and argues this means no rules have been breached. He has been attempting to complete a full takeover but that has stalled and he may sell so Palace are allowed to fulfil what is, if a dalliance with the defunct Intertoto Cup in 1998 is discounted, their European debut.
“All of the UK knows that I don’t have decisive influence over Palace,” Textor told the Daily Mail. “It was a good meeting. They listened and we’ll see what happens. I wouldn’t be trying to sell [this stake] if I did. We are trying to help separate it and sell. We wanted to buy but it’s become clear that isn’t going to happen and so we’re trying to help Palace and the situation with Uefa.”
Uefa’s rules stipulate that if Palace cannot prove their separation from Lyon they would be demoted to the Conference League as the lower-ranked of the clubs. The situation becomes more complex given the Danish club Brondby, who expect to compete in that tournament, are majority owned by the Palace co-owner David Blitzer. The draw for the Conference League’s first qualifying round is made on 17 June.
Possible workarounds include placing one or more of the clubs involved into a blind trust, as the Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe did last year with his Ligue 1 club, Nice, when both clubs qualified for the Europa League. Palace, who qualified for the Europa League through their shock FA Cup final win over Manchester City, had not met the Uefa deadline of 1 March for proving they had separate ownership structures.
Palace may yet be thrown another lifeline by the threat of further Uefa sanctions against financially stricken Lyon. The French club are under a settlement agreement that involves heavy financial penalties and transfer controls. If they are deemed to have breached it, they could be ejected from the Europa League.
