Crystal Palace’s Europa League dreams now rest with Uefa, with those at Selhurst Park fearing the worst.
They are waiting on Uefa to decide whether John Textor’s stake in the club breaches the governing body’s multi-club ownership rules by the end of the week.
Uefa’s decision to delay their ruling on whether Textor held decisive control at Selhurst Park has irked many at Palace, who believe the governing body wants to avoid making a resolution.
With Lyon having won their appeal against relegation from Ligue 1, Uefa cannot avoid the ruling much longer. It begs the question that if Uefa believed Palace were not in breach of their rules, would they have made that decision by now?
That’s the concern for the Eagles.
Palace will likely have the comfort blanket of playing in the European Conference League next season, which would still represent their first foray into European club competition.
But if it comes to that, a sense of a massive miscarriage of justice will grip Selhurst Park.
They won’t take it lying down either as the club have already explored their legal options before taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if required.
