'It becomes your life': Holmesdale Fanatics carry Palace's fight

Supporters' group lead the protests against what they see as Uefa's unjust demotion of club to Conference League

- Ed Aarons

When the Holmesdale Fanatics say they are planning something, it is usually worth paying attention. The receptionist at Uefa's headquarters in Nyon looked bemused when presented with a suitcase full of fake bank notes last month by members of the Crystal Palace supporters' group. They claimed it represented the "contradictions of their supposed 'fundamental values' of integrity and fairness and the reality of their business methods and general conduct".

Uefa has said it followed the correct procedures after its club financial control body demoted Palace from the Europa League to the Conference League because they were deemed to have broken multi-club ownership rules. But for the HF, it was a call to arms.

"For a situation like this, where we and our family members feel there is something unjust happening to the club, we have to act quickly," says Mickey Grafton, a founder member who also helped organise a protest outside Selhurst Park a week earlier attended by hundreds of fans.

An HF delegation, having also delivered a letter to Uefa's president, Aleksander Ceferin, demanding the club's reinstatement into the Europa League, headed to the headquarters of the court of arbitration for sport in Lausanne, where Palace's appeal against their demotion will be heard on Friday. The result is due on Monday. "The protests against those responsible will continue," the HF said.