John Textor releases official statement on ‘Premier League Ownership intentions’ as he dumps Palace


 
 
 
 
 
 

As you are no doubt aware, John Textor is trying to dump Crystal Palace and buy Everton.

As Newcastle United fans with our stressful history and circus, especially during a decade and a half of Mike Ashley, always nice when you see something similar going on involving other clubs.

John Textor owns 45 percent of Crystal Palace, as well as major shareholdings in other clubs, including Lyon in France, Brazilian side Botafogo and Belgian club Molenbeek.

Interesting if he does succeed in dumping Palace and buying Everton, though maybe even more interesting if he fails to buy Everton and is then still stuck with Crystal Palace! I’m sure their fans will be very understanding…

In this modern day world of football where what you are allowed to do and what you aren’t allowed to do with football clubs, often doesn’t make any sense. Surely the idea of being able to own more than one football club is beyond belief.

Why should you be allowed to do this?

It is like having more than one wife (please no!), how can you claim to love them all the same??? Or indeed, treat them equally fairly, on the same level?

The only place where multi-club ownership appears to have been successful, certainly for one of their clubs, is the abomination that is the City Group of so so many clubs, including, especially, Manchester City.

The way they and other multi-club owners move players about within their clubs is so open to abuse, never mind supposed ‘fair value’ rules…

John Textor has released a statement (see below) via his own personal website on ‘Premier League Ownership Intentions’ and claims how successful he has been with fingers in so many pies/clubs, but claims of ‘success’ are dubious at the very least.

A bit like Ratcliffe getting in with his mates the Glazers at Man U, with lazy/slavish media somehow claiming he has been successful with the other clubs he owns, when it is anything but true.

John Textor releases statement via his own official website on ‘Premier League Ownership intentions’ – 22 August 2024:

‘Statement regarding Premier League Ownership Intentions

In light of recent reports, which we believe may be well intended, but are still inaccurate or imprecise, we feel compelled to clarify our intentions as current owners of Crystal Palace Football Club, for the benefit of its community, and for the benefit of the Everton community which may be affected by these reports.

We can confirm that we are interested in selling our interest in Crystal Palace, largely so that we can pursue a relationship with the Everton club and community.

Several months ago, we hired Raine Group to begin the process of evaluating alternatives, as we were considering two very different alternatives, at that time, either a purchase of a majority interest in Palace or an outright sale.

Since the beginning of our investment in 2021, and our initial 40% purchase, it had always been my intent to purchase a majority interest in the Club. I was invited to buy a majority interest, at that time, and I have often regretted not doing so previously. We have continued to be the lead investor in the Club, with significant investments being made in the Spring of 2023, and again in the summer of 2024. Though we have been able to increase our percentage ownership of the club, and we remain the largest shareholder of the Club, we still have yet to acquire a majority interest. The Club remains governed in the same fashion today, as it was in 2021. We are one of four principal partners of the club, and we all have equal rights of management, control and governance.

As we now look to another adventure, we remain proud of our contributions to the Crystal Palace club and community. Our capital and our daily contributions helped to repay the debts that amassed during COVID, to complete key milestones of Academy improvements, to reduce the average age of the squad, and to recruit many of today’s most impactful players. We even helped to establish and build a relationship with our impressive new coach. In short, while we do not enjoy the same level of collaboration that we have with our other Eagle Football clubs, we are proud of Crystal Palace as an example of the positive contribution that we can make to a football club and community.

So, as I am now being asked to explain our view of continued ownership, and our contemplation of both ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ scenarios, I can only say that the decision has been as confusing for us, as it must be for the fans to decipher the limited and inaccurate press reports. It’s confusing, because it’s emotional. How could anyone not love Palace? I showed up in 2021, as a private investor, with only my wife and kids as partners. We attended games as a family, home and away. We enjoyed some great wins, against some big teams, and watched some great wins slip away at the death…and along the way, even though I wasn’t able to hit the pubs with fans, as much as my two boys did, I always looked forward to hearing their stories of the ‘away days’ (like nearly getting thrown off of a bridge for wearing Palace colors away at Forest, before getting dragged up by the neck by three older Palace fans). We have enjoyed every last moment as Palace fans.

…and long before our multi-club collaborative model began to develop, and we started to develop relationships with other communities, we were already enjoying our heavy contribution to a partnership that worked well enough together to preside over significant improvements and heightened ambitions. So, what started as a ‘pretty neat thing to do in retirement’ became an overwhelming passion for a club and a community that my family (and ultimately my new partners) grew to love, a community that really deserves to raise a Cup.

Ultimately it became obvious that our model of collaboration was working well. If we believe that each of the communities within our family deserve to win championships, then it is clear that we are having success. In Belgium, we quickly achieved success (probably too quickly), raising a Cup, achieving promotion into the 1stdivision, where we hope to return again soon. In Brazil, we acquired a bankrupt club, emerging from Serie B in 2022, and we are now on top of Serie A, and beating the greatest clubs of Brazil in our main competition and in Copa Libertadores. In France, we assumed roster control in the summer of 2022, suffered for 15 weeks in ‘dead last’ of Ligue 1. We were given no chance of avoiding relegation, but we improved our chances in one collaborative transfer window, becoming the #1 team in France during the last half of the 2022/23 season. Even more surprising, to others, is that no team in history, in France, had ever escaped relegation with only 7 points after 14 games – but we finished in 6th place and qualified directly for Europa League. Collaboration works, for all of the clubs and communities in our family.

This brings me to the point, as it seems well past time for me to clarify our intentions, as real people in real communities are impacted by misinformation. Yes, we have been evaluating alternative relationships in football to complete our family, to include a strong and collaborative UK community – but before we decided to leave one family, to join another, we did try to do everything possible to stay connected with the club and community of Crystal Palace. If supporters don’t switch allegiances easily, owners shouldn’t either.

It is true that we made an offer to buy the remaining shares of Crystal Palace, at a valuation that far exceeds levels of prior investment. We did so with a strong belief that Palace has become a much more valuable club, since 2021, and we respected our partners enough to offer fair value, regardless of circumstances. It is also true that our offer did not induce a response, and we believe that our Palace partners have the same desire to remain in ownership as we once did…so our Raine Group efforts to sell our interests resumed. We have a significant number of parties active in our process, we have received strong indications from qualified buyers, and we believe strongly that we can complete a sale of our interests to continue moving forward with the next community we hope to serve, embrace and enjoy.

We have no expectation of immediate acceptance as we show up in a new town, with Palace gear stored in our trunks, and memories that we will cherish forever (though May 19, 2022 will just have to be one of those memories that now can go both ways!). Trust is not earned quickly with supporters, but I do believe that we are uniquely qualified to serve and deliver results, and I do believe that it is more likely, than not, that I will be referring to a new club and community as ‘my club’, sometime soon. Only time will tell.’