Crystal Palace’s John Textor nightmare: BOBBY MANZI reveals the blazing rows with Steve Parish, his crumbling football empire and why Lyon can’t stand him either

When the full-time whistle went at Wembley and Crystal Palace had defied all the odds to win the FA Cup, John Textor leaned over a row of Royal Box seats to embrace Steve Parish.

After Eberechi Eze’s goal won them the first trophy in their 120-year history, the image depicted an ownership group that was united and jubilant. In reality, their relationship was anything but.

On Thursday, Palace will reopen old wounds when they travel to Lyon for the Textor Derby. The disgraced former owner of both clubs will be nowhere to be seen and that’s probably for the best, given the acrimony towards him in both France and south London.

Without his cross-Channel multi-club network, Palace may well have been playing in the Europa League last season. Instead they were demoted by virtue of no two clubs being able to play in the same UEFA competition and Nottingham Forest – now Public Enemy No1 in Croydon – took Palace’s place. And the animosity extends beyond the supporters. 

Textor arrived at Palace in August 2021, acquiring the largest minority stake in the club for £87.5million before increasing his shareholding to 43 per cent three years later. Yet, despite his attempts, Textor failed to convert his equity into control. On several occasions, he tried to purchase a majority stake but was consistently blocked.

That irked him. Chairman Parish, the club’s ultimate decision-maker despite owning significantly less of it than Textor, angered him. Textor deemed Parish risk-averse, while Parish viewed Textor as a risk to the club. But Parish had the measure of him, using the Missouri-born former competitive skateboarder’s capital to pay off debt during Covid, develop the academy site and strengthen the playing squad without giving him decision-making power.

Meanwhile, Textor wanted Palace to be the cornerstone of his multi-club ownership group, Eagle Football, which owned Lyon, Brazilian top-flight side Botafogo and the now-defunct RWD Molenbeek of Belgium. Given that Textor has since lost all the clubs amid financial mismanagement, Parish’s wariness has been vindicated.

Textor wanted Parish to prioritise the playing squad and was aggrieved by ring-fencing cash for Selhurst Park’s new Main Stand. Some believe Textor never supported the development, with the issue often prompting bust-ups.

In fact, sources told Daily Mail Sport that Parish and Textor had regular slanging matches in the boardroom while employees were present. One source recalled occasions when Textor stormed out, explaining that the pair clashed over their respective self-righteousness.

Publicly, Parish and Textor mostly put on a united front, though Textor made some snide digs about the ‘red Ferrari driving chairman’ in an interview with talkSPORT. Behind the scenes, however, the pair never hid their dislike or the tension between them – and Textor eventually lost much of his interest in Palace after realising his sway was limited and he could not further his multi-club network ambitions.

The most disruptive period came during Textor’s exit. He had been looking to sell for some time but the process was accelerated after the FA Cup win granted Palace entry into the Europa League for the following campaign, where the Lyon problem reared its head. 

There was perhaps another reason for Textor’s expediency. Lyon had problems of their own – the seven-times French champions were in the process of being kicked out of Ligue 1 by the French football authorities (DNCG).

But when Textor’s money came in from selling his Palace stake to Woody Johnson, the former US Ambassador to the UK and owner of the NFL’s New York Jets, they satisfied the DNCG’s demands and were reinstated not just to the French top flight but also the Europa League.

So in the end, selling Palace and releasing them from the multi-club network resulted in Lyon taking their Europa League place. Palace were demoted to the Conference League – which they went on to win to again qualify for the Europa League – because Textor still had ‘decisive influence’ on the March 1, 2025 deadline for ownership conflicts to be resolved for the following season.

To this day, Textor is one of three parties Palace supporters blame for their expulsion, alongside Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and UEFA.

‘F*** UEFA, f*** John Textor, f*** Marinakis’ has become a staple chant at matches and will almost certainly be heard throughout the match at the Groupama Stadium on Thursday night.

Textor has both publicly and privately suggested that supporters are naive for blaming him. Of course, the Europa League demotion is the emotional source of their frustration. However, the Textor resentment originated in concerns over his ambition to put Eagle Football Holdings on the stock market and fears over whether he had suitable funding.

Having previously held stakes in four clubs, Textor now has none.

Palace and Lyon are under new management, Botafogo voted him off their board this summer a few months after the club were hit with a three-window transfer ban for non-payment of a transfer fee, and Molenbeek lost their Belgian football league licence in August over financial difficulties. At the top of it all, Eagle Football Holdings went into administration in March.

It should be said that Palace had not planned well enough for the possibility of playing European football. Had they done so, Textor’s shares could have been placed in a blind trust before the deadline and the situation avoided. Whether Textor would have agreed to that while trying to sell up, though, is another matter.

Intriguingly, one Palace source defended Textor when speaking to Daily Mail Sport. The source argued that Textor was the driving force behind Palace appointing Oliver Glasner two years ago and that the investment he made helped to pay for the signings of Marc Guehi and Michael Olise, suggesting that none of Palace’s three trophies in the last 18 months would have been possible without the American. That is an unpopular opinion among fans to say the least, though.

Even after his exit, there remains a tenuous link to the club. John Textor’s son, Addison, is employed by Velocity Capital – an American private equity firm owned by minority Palace shareholder David Abrams. The firm invested more than £75m in leading football agency Unique Sports Group, which represents past and present Palace players Dean Henderson, Maxence Lacroix, Marc Guehi and Dwight McNeil.

Palace fans will use their trip to Lyon to lambast Textor once again and the home crowd is likely to join in. Although Lyon’s involvement prevented Palace from competing in the Europa League, there is no bitterness between the two clubs – both equally disdain Textor.

Lyon endured persistent battles with the DNCG thanks to Textor building up debt, the provisional relegation last summer and being forced to sell key players because of their financial situation. Ironically, supporters also fumed over his decision to sack now-Palace boss Pierre Sage, a decision Textor admits he now regrets.

When Palace won the Conference League to qualify for the Europa League last season, they were almost destined to face Lyon.

This is the final chapter in their Textor debacle and, unless it’s in their favourite chant, everyone at Palace will hope Thursday night is the last time he enters their thoughts.