Steve Parish confirms Crystal Palace will challenge demotion from Europa League: 'We're very hopeful' | OneFootball

Palace chairman believes club have “great legal arguments” to take to Court of Arbitration for Sport

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has confirmed the club are mounting a legal challenge against UEFA’s decision to exclude them from next season's Europa League.

Parish insists Textor, who has sold his stake in Palace, never had any decisive influence and the club are ready to take their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“We don’t think this is the right decision by any means. We know unequivocally that John didn’t have decisive influence over the club. We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it’s a fact.

“It all hinges on that. It all hinges on the fact that one person, or one entity, needs to have decisive influence over two clubs.

“They don’t want a conflict in the competition, where people are conflicted in terms of, are they working for one club or the other club.

“That clearly is not the case. John has now sold, so that absolutely won’t be the case when we get to the competition. I am still hopeful that the right answer can be found.”

John Textor has sold his stake in Crystal Palace

AFP via Getty Images

Palace’s demotion to the Conference League would benefit Nottingham Forest, who would replace them in the Europa League.

Reports have claimed that Forest lobbied for Palace to be demoted and Parish confirmed he believes that is correct.

“We are led to believe that’s the issue. If there wasn’t somebody that wanted to get in as a consequence, then there wouldn't be a problem,” he said.

“People have got to look at themselves in terms of what they do. Some people will say it’s fine, some people will say it’s not.

“I don’t really have control of that. I have control of the arguments we put forward to UEFA.”

Parish believes Palace missing out on European football after winning the FA Cup is a “bad look” for football and has called on UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin to intervene.

“I think Mr Ceferin could resolve this situation,” said Parish.

“I think it would be a very good look if he did resolve this situation, because I think most people think it is right that we are in the competition.

“I think it does look bad. We are medium-size club, let’s say. This is the dream. This is what keeps football alive.

“This is why everybody goes because, they think one day, we might win a cup and as a consequence we might qualify for Europe.

“People are saying: ‘You are in the Conference League, that’s fine’. If you win the Europa League, you get into the Champions League! These can be defining moments for football clubs, can completely change the course of history forever for you as a club.”