Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish seemingly directed criticism at Nottingham Forest, Evangelos Marinakis, and UEFA following his team’s triumph in the Conference League on Wednesday evening.
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the decisive goal, helping manager Oliver Glasner conclude his tenure by securing a third trophy in a year, as his team defeated Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig.
Earlier this season, Parish led a group of seven representatives to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after Crystal Palace was expelled from the Europa League, despite qualifying by winning the FA Cup.
The conflict arose because Textor’s group, which also owned the French club Lyon, prioritized Lyon for the Europa League spot due to their higher domestic league finish, despite Palace’s FA Cup victory. Textor eventually divested his stake, but the ruling stood, with Forest stepping in to replace Palace in the Europa League, having advocated for Palace’s exclusion.
While Crystal Palace celebrated their victory on Wednesday night, Nottingham Forest faced disappointment, as they were eliminated in the Europa League semi-finals by the eventual champions, Aston Villa.
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish (right) took aim at Nottingham Forest after his side won the Conference League
Speaking to TNT Sports after the match, Parish reflected on the victory, saying, “To be in Europe, traveling around is one thing, but to come and win it is incredible, and it hasn’t really sunk in. It’s an incredible achievement.”
‘The players, the staff, all of the ups and downs we’ve had this season, it’s brilliant to get here and to get in to the Europa League where we deserve to be. It just shows that sometimes the good guys win in the end, I think.
‘When I bought the club I wasn’t sure we’d ever play in Europe, let alone win a trophy. It’s a dream come true.
‘We have got a taste for it now, we want to keep it going. We have gone up a level and we have got to try and stay there. We will have a week to celebrate and then work hard in the summer.’
Palace will now compete in next season’s Europa League by virtue of winning the Conference League – taking the total number of English clubs in Europe next season to nine.
Forest enlisted a legal team to represent them at Palace’s appeal against the decision, which took place in Switzerland in August.
It is understood that a key part of Palace’s argument was their belief that Forest were given extra time beyond UEFA’s March 1 deadline to address their own multi-club ownership issues.
At one stage, when it appeared that both Forest and Greek side Olympiakos – who are also owned by Marinakis – could qualify for the Champions League, Marinakis effectively placed Forest into a blind trust in an attempt to navigate the rules, but documents lodged at Companies House showed that the move was made on April 29.
Evangelos Marinakis and Forest pushed for Palace to be kicked out of the Europa League this season so they could replace them
As Daily Mail Sport reported, Palace, who were held to the March 1 deadline, demanded full disclosure of what they believed were bombshell documents and texts between UEFA and Forest which they believed could ‘prove’ double standards had been at play.
Given Forest’s view that they met deadlines in good time, Eagles officials believed there would be no issue in handing the documents over.
As things transpired, Forest failed to qualify for the Champions League and Marinakis was promptly reinstated as a ‘person with significant control’ of NF Football Investments Ltd, the vehicle that owns Forest, on June 6.
Palace’s appeal ultimately fell short, and they were instead forced to contest the Conference League – Europe’s third-tier competition, which has now been won by three English sides – West Ham (2023), Chelsea (2025), and Palace (2026) – since its inception five years ago.
But they are now celebrating, and will take their place in the Europa League next season. Forest will be without European football after finishing 16th in the Premier League.
