John Textor sold his 43% stake in Crystal Palace last June in unique circumstances.
Having been deemed to hold significant involvement in Lyon as well as Crystal Palace – both of whom had qualified for the UEFA Europa League, but only the latter booted out – the American hurriedly cashed in on his stake in an attempt to appease UEFA and get the Eagles reinstated into the competition.
A £190m sale was made to Woody Johnson, and while that did not get Crystal Palace back into the UEFA Europa League – much to the frustration of the fanbase – it now looks a blessing in disguise as Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings enters administration.
Adam Williams – Head of Football Finance and Governance Content at GRV Media – has now told We Are Palace how the Eagles avoided an “absolute bin fire” by parting ways with Textor.
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Exclusive: Crystal Palace dodged a “bin fire” in Eagle Football Holdings
Crystal Palace fans have hardly heard a peep out of Johnson since he purchased that 43% stake, but even his radio silence seems better than still having Textor – who once tried to buy Everton – at Selhurst Park.
Williams said: “Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings is an absolute bin fire. You’ve got clubs within the network now suing each other, transfer bans and creditors who want paying back and who are aggressively trying to make that happen.
“Textor himself has been removed from the board of Eagle Football. It’s a morality tale about the hubris of some individuals involved in the multi-club racket and football club ownership more generally. They maintain that the group as a whole is cash-flow positive but it didn’t take an elite accountant to see that, when you are as highly leveraged as Eagle Football is, you need the stars to align pretty miraculously to avoid this kind of situation.
“Ultimately, it’s the fans of the clubs in the Eagle Football network who will be counting the cost long after Textor has left the football world. That’s the thing about the multi-club purveyors who think they are smarter than everyone who has tried and failed to make football profitable – it’s a model which doesn’t account for clubs’ unique histories and identities, the depth of feeling among fans, and the fact that football’s financial ecosystem is unlike any other. There is a lot of dumb money in the sport and, if you believe anyone who tells you they have cracked the code and can make it consistently profitable, I’ve got some magic beans to sell you.
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“As far as Palace are concerned, they got out at the right time. If Ares – Eagle Football’s main creditor – had pursued repayment like this when Palace were still owned by Textor, they would have been dragged into it. The Europa League fiasco hastened the sale of his stake in the club and, indirectly, could lead to one of the greatest moments in Palace’s history if they go on to win the Conference League. Who’s to say they wouldn’t have got knocked out in the league phase of the Europa League had they been in that competition? I know what I’d prefer.”
