UEFA, Europa League and John Textor: What the f*ck is going on?

Promotions. Relegations. Scunthorpe at home. A decade of flashy mediocrity in the middle of the Premier League. But finally, after countless generations of "typical Palace", the plucky Eagles from South London won their first major trophy, and with it, broke through the Europe-shaped glass ceiling that had haunted them for so long. 

Crystal Palace fans should be living their 120 (or 164) year-old dream. A red and blue summer of new arrivals and anticipation for the day the Europa League anthem reverberates around Selhurst Park for the first time. 

In reality, however, that dream has been punctured by the unholy trinity of modern-day football: billionaires, bureaucracy, and bankruptcy. 

Palace now find themselves in limbo, unable to act in the transfer market until UEFA determine whether they breached any multi-club ownership rules by qualifying for the Europa League alongside Olympique Lyonnais - a decision already postponed multiple times due to the complexity of the situation.

The consequence for a negative outcome of UEFA's decision would be for the club with a lower league finish to be relegated into the Conference League - meaning Palace, having qualified through winning the FA Cup rather than the league, would miss out.

There's just one issue. Wait, two. No, three. Hang on - John Textor, the link between Palace and Lyon, sold his stake in Palace and resigned as Lyon's president? And Lyon's financial impropriety means they may be relegated from Ligue 1 and UEFA competitions, paving the way for Palace? But neither of those are impacting UEFA's ruling? Wait... what?

The title of this article may indicate a nuanced and informative explanation of the ridiculously convoluted situation Crystal Palace F.C. finds itself in - but I'm afraid I have no intention of dignifying UEFA's self-made clusterfuck with such time or effort.

Instead, I will be listing every reason why this is an absolute shitshow.

"Decisive Influence"

The law is simple: no individual may be able to exercise a decisive influence in the decision-making of more than one club involved in a UEFA club competition.

Great! Textor never has had decisive influence at Palace. Despite owning 65.4% of Eagle Football Holdings' 44.9% stake, he was limited to a 25% voting share, made redundant by chairman Steve Parish's "golden veto". 

At no point during his time at Palace did Textor exercise decisive influence - not in the form of a tiebreak vote at board level, and not in the form of Oliver Glasner's appointment as manager.

Furthermore, Textor publicly announced he wanted to sell his stake in Palace due to the lack of influence he had, describing the South London club as "not a great fit" for Eagle Football's multi-club ownership model.

The argument that Textor had no decisive control is Palace's primary defence.

Textor Gone

Textor sold his stake in Palace to Woody Johnson last month, and was removed as a director on Companies House at the end of the financial year on June 30th. 

However, as this occurred after UEFA's March 1 deadline, it will not impact their decision. 

Out of curiosity, why is the deadline March 1?

The March 1 Deadline

UEFA moved forward the deadline for teams to prove they were in compliance with multi-club ownership (MCO) laws from June to March, in order to prevent the exact thing that is happening to Palace right now: delays. 

This arbitrary move was deeply flawed - it changed the deadline to be during the footballing season, preventing clubs from being able to react to late European qualifications.

Palace were in the round of 16 of the FA Cup and 12th in the Premier League on the morning of March 1st. They did not know they had qualified for European football until 77 days after the deadline.

Furthermore, Lyon did not qualify for the Europa League initially. It took a 99th-minute goal for Le Havre against Strasbourg on the final day to move them into 6th after the final day, at which point they had to wait for Paris Saint-Germain to win the French Cup and send them to Europe.

Clairvoyance aside, the one solution to this predicament would have been Textor placing his Palace shares in a blind trust before the deadline, avoiding the UEFA investigation into his influence. This is a weak and performative loophole - Evangelos Marinakis, for example, placed his Nottingham Forest shares in a blind trust, and yet quite clearly demonstrated some level of influence when he stormed onto the pitch and verbally berated Nuno Espirito Santo.

However, as mentioned previously, both Palace and Textor wanted Textor out due to disagreements over his influence and the MCO model, and Textor was in the process of selling his stake - something you cannot do in a blind trust. 

It was the perfect storm of possible events to create the current situation.

Textor's Dark Deeds

"Surely Palace knew about Textor's MCO ambitions beforehand?"

John Textor's initial investment in Palace came under his own name, not through his company. He did not own any other football clubs at the time. 

"Surely Palace could have got him out before March 1?"

The one big beautiful billionaire (Textor) made it impossible. He signed two different exclusivity agreements with two different parties in January for the sale of his role at Palace, which is legally impossible, in an attempt to drive up the price, yet ended up selling to neither party in June for significantly less than their individual offers. Palace's power was limited to the final confirmation - they could not intervene until he was happy with a buyer.

Lyon's Debt

UEFA may not even have to make a decision due to Lyon's financial issues. It's too complicated to cover fully in this article, however, the essence of it is that Lyon have been relegated from Ligue 1 and by extension UEFA competitions, pending an appeal with the DNCG. 

Should Lyon's exit be confirmed, Palace will be in the clear. However, the French club's ability to delay their appeal means they have additional time to raise the cash required to prevent their relegation.

The Delays

UEFA have postponed a decision on Palace's future twice now, in what has been farcically disrespectful to the South London club, prompting a potential additional legal dispute.

Palace now have to wait until Lyon's appeal has been responded to, which should come in the next 10 days. It provides the option for three parties - UEFA, Palace, and Nottingham Forest, who would be promoted to the Europa League in Palace's place - to avoid a legal case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), as the potential final exclusion of Lyon from the Europa League would bring an end to the investigation against Palace. 

The case going to CAS would mean further delays, expensive legal costs, and more importantly, coverage of UEFA's incompetence, which, of course, UEFA are keen to avoid.

MCOs Everywhere

Manchester City and Girona both played in the Champions League last year. As did RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg. They used the blind trust and relinquish control loopholes to escape punishment, which they had time to do.

Why did they have time to do it? Because the deadline was in June instead of March. Why else? Because all four of those clubs were in Champions League spots for months before the season ended, giving them time to prepare.

Palace, on the other hand, qualified through winning the FA Cup - a far more prestigious entry, and one that they could not have anticipated. Not to mention, yet again, that their victory was 77 days after the new deadline.

What now?

I'm going to have a nice cold pint and wait for all this to blow over. It'd be great if we could sign some players to cheer me up, but then again, it's quite hard to sign Europa-quality players if they don't know if you're in the Europa League. And if you don't know if you'll have the Europa League TV money. And if you don't know if you even need them.

Thanks for reading.