Crystal Palace owner issues update from court as Nottingham Forest await Europa League fate

Nottingham Forest’s wait to find out whether they will compete in the UEFA Europa League this season is nearing an end as Crystal Palace have their appeal heard.

Back in July, Forest were promoted into the Europa League as a result of Palace’s breach of UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules, stemming from the involvement of John Textor in both The Eagles and Lyon in France.

Naturally, Palace appealed UEFA’s punishment which set up a hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Palace owner Steve Parish has remained confident about the CAS appeal but as the day finally arrived, the mood must’ve been nervy.

Forest were also represented in the courtroom on Friday and once the case was heard, Parish was on hand to provide an update on the proceedings.

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Steve Parish provides reaction to Crystal Palace CAS hearing

Whoever ends up in the UEFA Conference League is set to face Fredrikstad FK of Norway in a play-off to enter the league stage, while the team in the Europa League will advance straight into the proper competition.

Of course, then, there are a multitude of reasons why Parish and Evangelos Marinakis will be desperate to come out on the right end of CAS’s decision, with early signs suggesting that the Palace owner isn’t confident about how the hearing played out.

Outside the courtroom, he said: “Given where we are, it’s hard to be confident because it seems dystopian to even be in this situation, so I don’t know. Hopefully, good sense will prevail and we’ll get to the right answer.”

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While he was never going to be gloating about the events within the courtroom, Palace fans may be slightly concerned about the lack of confidence in his answer to the press, given the opposite feeling throughout the buildup.

For Forest, though, it’s potentially good news, especially given how football governance experts had already been feeling negative about Palace’s chances of overturning UEFA’s decision.

No longer a part of the club, Textor was confident that Palace would keep their Europa League spot as he and the Eagles hierarchy were confident they could prove that the American had no decisive influence over Palace.

Palace were also keen to argue that Forest had been treated more favourably by UEFA in regards to having an extension to comply with multi-club rules and allegedly had documents to prove it, an argument that expert Stefan Borson expressed doubt over.

Borson said: “According to those documents, Nottingham Forest did nothing wrong.

“Those documents suggest that Nottingham Forest were able to extend the time period from the 1st of March to the 29th of April with the consent of UEFA, so what have Nottingham Forest done wrong in that scenario?

“[…]The point is that there’s nothing to say that the approach taken with Nottingham Forest wouldn’t have been available to Crystal Palace; they just didn’t ask for it because, according to them, they weren’t aware of it. So I just don’t know where the point goes.”

All parties will now wait with bated breath for Monday’s verdict, one that will alter the seasons of both Forest and Palace either way.

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