Crystal Palace chief Steve Parish points the finger at Nottingham Forest over Europa League expulsion as tensions rise

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has appeared to point the finger of blame at Nottingham Forest over his club's Europa League expulsion.

Crystal Palace chief Steve Parish points the finger at Nottingham Forest over Europa League expulsion as tensions riseCrystal Palace chief Steve Parish points the finger at Nottingham Forest over Europa League expulsion as tensions riseCrystal Palace chief Steve Parish points the finger at Nottingham Forest over Europa League expulsion as tensions rise

Days on from Palace being excluded from next season’s Europa League after UEFA deemed they breached multi-club ownership rules, Parish has hit out at Forest – who took their place in the competition. He claims that if Evangelos Marinakis’ side hadn’t pushed to get bumped up from the , the FA Cup winners may still be in the Europa League next term.

When asked if Forest had played a part in Palace’s demotion by Gary Lineker, he said on The Rest is Football podcast: “We were told that and I think it has been made public, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of confidentiality that comes out of certain organisations. We are led to believe that that is the issue; that if there wasn’t somebody that wanted to get in [into the Europa League] as a consequence, then there wouldn’t be a problem.”

Parish also said that Palace will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over UEFA’s decision to demote them to the Conference League. The Eagles have been jettisoned from the Europa League as UEFA said there is a conflict of interest regarding former co-owner John Textor, who also owns part of , who have qualified after having their relegation from reversed on appeal. This could rumble on for a while at a time when tensions are very high.

After a lengthy wait to find out if Palace would keep their place in the Europe’s second-tier competition, this matter with CAS could go on even longer. This episode could even rumble on when the start of next season rolls round in August.