Palace's Europa League row should act as a wake-up call

Steve Parish’s face at Uefa this week probably said enough. He didn’t need to repeat a view he has pressed on people in private and now to Uefa executives in Nyon that Crystal Palace are technically not part of a multi-club ownership.

- MIGUEL DELANEY CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER

A very different interpretation may now cost his club a place in the Europa League, or perhaps European competition altogether. The challenge for the club this week has arguably been more complicated than beating Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the FA Cup final. They have had to convince Uefa that John Textor does not have “decisive influence” on the club.

This is due to his 43 per cent stake in Palace, while he also holds 88 per cent of fellow Europa League qualifiers Lyon. That situation could fall foul of Uefa’s rules that no one may be simultaneously involved in the management, administration or sporting performance of another club in the same competition.

The rules evolved out of EU competition law, which is where the definition of “decisive influence” is so important. In reality, as Textor himself insisted in Switzerland this week, everyone knows that is just not the level of control the US investor has. His 43 per cent equity only translates into 25 per cent of the votes, where it’s basically known that co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer go with Parish, who has the casting ballot.