Crystal Palace chief plans to sell stake after UEFA talks to avoid European ban

John Textor, who owns a little less than half of Crystal Palace, has claimed he is exploring a sale of his stake after talks were held with UEFA about their participation in next season’s Europa League

John Textor has claimed he is actively trying to sell his 43 per cent stake in Crystal Palace after the club met with UEFA to discuss their participation in next season’s Europa League.

Palace could be blocked from competing in the competition because of UEFA’s multi club ownership rules with Textor also the majority owner of French club Lyon, who have qualified for the same competition.

An hour-long meeting was held in UEFA’s Nyon base today and Palace have been confident from the outset that they can state their case that they have no influence over Lyon and the Ligue 1 side have no say on matters at Selhurst Park.

But Textor, speaking to the Daily Mail, has suggested that he will be looking to offload his stake in the FA Cup winners.

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“Look, all of the UK knows that I don’t have decisive influence over Palace. It was a good meeting. They listened and we’ll see what happens. I wouldn’t be trying to sell (this stake) if I did,” he said.

“We are trying to help separate it and sell. We wanted to buy but it’s become clear that isn’t going to happen and so we’re trying to help Palace and the situation with UEFA. That’s about all I can say.” Textor was previously linked with a takeover of Everton before they were bought by the Friedkin Group.

In the season just completed both Manchester United and Nice, and Manchester City and Girona had to ensure “significant changes” were made for all four to be permitted entry to the Europa League and Champions League.

That included appointing an independent trustee, supervised by UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body, which had “the effective control and decision-making of” Nice and Girona.

Directors were also forced to resign from the clubs’ boards while they were banned from transferring players to each other and from sharing commercial agreements or scouting databases.

Rules state that if Palace are unable to meet UEFA’s demands they would be able to drop down to the Conference League.

But that is complicated by Brondby, which is owned by another of the Selhurst Park club’s minority owners David Blitzer, already qualifying for that competition via the Danish league and that ranking takes precedence over teams who qualify by winning a domestic cup competition.

In the unlikely event that Palace are denied entry their bitter rivals Brighton would find themselves in the Conference League on account of finishing ninth in the Premier League with Nottingham Forest promoted to the Europa.

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