1st Jan 2025 • Written by The Palace Way

Exclusive: Sportsbank, John Textor, and the future of Crystal Palace

It has now been over seven months since John Textor announced on his website that Eagle Football Holdings, the company which owns a 45% stake in Crystal Palace F.C., was interviewing prospective buyers for its position in the club.

There has been interest from multiple high-profile parties, including a consortium funded by Saudi businessmen Haider and Mansoor Syed, in partnership with previous Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd and former executives from Morgan Stanley and Roc Nation. However, it is Sportsbank, a company registered in London just four months ago, that has been selected as Textor’s preferred bidder.

Sportsbank was formed to represent the interests of various investors from North America and the Middle East, and has a core team of fourteen individuals, including investment bankers, accountants, marketers, digital media management consultants and stadium engineers. The public faces of the group thus far have been Crystal Palace supporter and Sportsbank CEO Zechariah Janjua, and to a lesser extent Navshir Jaffer, who have successfully pitched to Sportsbank’s backers that the club and South London have significant untapped sporting and financial potential.

Currently, Sportsbank have a choice between two ways of buying into the club: they can either directly purchase Eagle Football’s 45% stake, which would likely cost in the region of £230m, or they can invest a similar amount into Eagle Football Holdings. 

The latter option, which is preferred by Textor, would be on the provision that Sportsbank acts as Eagle Football’s representative on the Palace board, rather than Textor. This would supposedly benefit the South London club by maintaining relationships within Eagle Football’s multi-club model, which Sportsbank value in their plan for growth. Similarly, Textor would prefer to keep Palace as the Premier League club within Eagle Football’s network.

Who are Zechariah Janjua and Navshir Jaffer?

Janjua and Jaffer both studied in London and built their careers within the “Big Four” accounting firms, including Deloitte, EY, and PwC. 

Despite living permanently in South London, Janjua has spent the last three years building a base for himself in Abu Dhabi, where he formed relationships with individuals now involved with Sportsbank. Jaffer, on the other hand, is a chartered accountant whose recent career has focused on advising real estate funds undertaking “significant projects in central London” with the accountancy firm Leadenhall Partners, of which he is a company director.

Both individuals have limited digital footprints. Janjua was the victim of online crime between 2017 and 2019, including false stories of severe criminal offences, which forced him to change his legal name and sell his stake in his technology company so that he could focus on his family. The Palace Way has seen and examined multiple legal documents, including court orders, DBS certificates and correspondence with the Metropolitan Police, which verify that none of the claims made against him are true.

In terms of sport, Janjua in particular is a keen athlete, playing both football and cricket in his youth, and even had a brief career in professional cricket before suffering a nerve injury. He became a Palace fan in 2013, after attending his first game at Selhurst Park, and is one of multiple Sportsbank executives to have a season ticket. More recently, he was sat in the Holmesdale for Palace’s victory against Southampton on Sunday.

When could a deal be finalised?

Although Sportsbank have been identified as Textor’s preferred bidder, there have been two primary causes for delay - negotiating a price deemed acceptable from the Eagle Football side, and providing proof of funds to the Palace board. As Sportsbank are dependent on backing from a plethora of investors, they need to demonstrate a guarantee of the money they will use to buy into the club, contingent on legal permission to promise funds from each party involved. 

The Sportsbank team have an ambitious vision, involving a technocratic approach to development off the pitch, and learning from the success of clubs like Brighton and Bournemouth. In part due to the influence of Palace supporters within the group, they believe in a fan-centric approach to football club ownership, and want to include fans in decisions around the club.

There is a pragmatic 10-year plan for growth, focused on continuing the current trajectory set with Parish by completing the redevelopment of the Main Stand, and becoming a club that sustainably competes for the top six positions in the Premier League.

Both parties are aiming to complete the deal as soon as possible, with the most realistic estimate being the end of January. From the perspective of a fan, one would hope that this could be the beginning of the proverbial “next level” - but only time will tell.

Thumnail Image: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

0 comments