Crystal Palace fans marched to Selhurst Park in protest against UEFA’s ruling to relegate the Eagles to the Europa Conference League.
The south Londoners had qualified for the Europa League through their stunning FA Cup final triumph over Manchester City back in May, but UEFA deemed Palace and Lyon to be part of a multi-club ownership under John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings Ltd consortium.
On Tuesday evening, Palace supporters organised a protest from Norwood Clock Tower to the club’s home ground, and hundreds turned up carrying banners and chanting against UEFA.
One banner read: “UEFA: Morally bankrupt. Revoke the ruling now.”
Fans also aimed explicit chants at Textor, the departing shareholder, as well as Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, with Forest set to replace Palace in the Europa League.
Textor’s stakes in both Palace and Lyon have caused this conflict, and, although Textor is in the process of selling his shares in Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, Palace missed UEFA’s deadline of March 1 to demonstrate that they were not part of a multi-club ownership model.
Palace chairman Steve Parish last week brandished UEFA’s decision to expel the Eagles from Europe’s secondary competition as “a bad day for football” and “a terrible injustice”.
