Like Being Punished for No Fault of Our Own,” Says Oliver Glasner As Palace Face UEL Uncertainty

“Like Being Punished for No Fault of Our Own,” Says Oliver Glasner As Palace Face UEL Uncertainty
Palace’s head coach, Glasner, compared the situation the London club is in to a person being wrongly scolded despite being innocent.
Premier League side Crystal Palace earned a spot in the UEFA Europa League after winning the FA Cup, but they might be demoted to the UEFA Conference League. This is because the Eagles fell afoul of rules about multi-club ownership.
Their head coach, Oliver Glasner, likened their situation to someone being unfairly punished even when they are innocent.
“If you get punished when you feel innocent, it’s a bit tough,” Glasner said.
“And it feels like that. If we have to play in the Conference League, it feels like we are being punished, but for no fault of our own. On the other hand, if we had finished seventh in the season and gone straight into the Conference League, we would all have been celebrating.
“So, these are the two feelings we have. But again, if you haven’t done anything wrong and you feel punished, you never feel good. I think we all feel the same, and this is how we feel, or how we felt about the UEFA decision.”
The European football governing body decided that as of March 1, American businessman John Textor had control or influence at both Palace and the French club Lyon.
According to UEFA rules, Palace cannot play in the same European competition as Lyon, which kept its Europa League spot because it had a higher league position.
Palace, however, appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the club’s chairman, Steve Parish, attended a hearing on Friday. A decision is expected on Monday.
While Parish was in Lausanne, the Eagles’ manager Glasner was talking to reporters in London before Sunday’s Community Shield match—which is the traditional season-opener in England—between the reigning Premier League champions, Liverpool, and the FA Cup winners, Palace, at Wembley.
“Not at all,” the Austrian said. “The first time we met after this happened, it was only mentioned once. One of our mottos is ‘we want to focus on the things we can control’, and we can’t influence the decision of UEFA or CAS.
“So, it just doesn’t make any sense, and the players have done a really good job throughout the pre-season and training, working very hard. We’ve said, OK, we will get the final verdict on August 11, and we will accept it. That’s the only thing we can do,” he concluded.