February 1 – The American owner of English Premier League club Crystal Palace, who owns a string of other clubs across the globe, says he’d be in favour of a World Super League rather than an exclusively European one were it ever to get off the ground.
John Textor is the largest shareholder in Palace and also owns clubs in Brazil, France, Belgium and the United States.
“I don’t want to support a particular brand of super league,” Textor told the FT Business of Football Summit in London.
“I believe the world wants to play football. Botofogo want to come to Europe and play the best. Evolution is going to happen; if you don’t evolve you’ll be extinct.
“I want the world to play. I want the New England Revolution to have a chance to beat Chelsea. I want Palmeiras to come over.
“Someone said a rising tide floats all boats – let’s see that. I’m in favour of a world league, something super.”
Textor, whose Eagle Football empire includes Palace, Lyon, Botafogo, Molenbeek and FC Florida, also took aim at financial fair play rules designed to limit how much money clubs are allowed to lose.
The Premier League’s so-called profit and sustainability rules (PSR) do not permit clubs to exceed losses of £105 million over three seasons but critics argue they restrict ambitious clubs from challenging the dominance of the so-called big six teams.
“It’s clear that they’re (PSR) built to make sure that clubs who do not drive significant revenues cannot catch up…,” said Textor. “It doesn’t matter if you have a billion dollars of cash in a wheelbarrow, you’re not allowed to spend it.”
“Financial fair play is a fraud of a term, to say it’s about sustainability. We have got three billionaires in our ownership group (at Palace). We’re not allowed to spend at the level of teams that are in the top six.”
So far this season Everton have had six points docked – reduced from 10 after an appeal – and could drop more with a second complaint to be heard later this year. Nottingham Forest are also the subject of a PSR complaint and face the prospect of a points deduction.
Upon their promotion ahead of the 2022-23 season, Forest’s owner Evangelos Marinakis splashed the cash as the club broke the record for most transfers (21) by a Premier League team in the close-season window.
“Marinakis has plenty of money to fund his team but he’s not allowed to,” Textor declared. “If he spends too much and does what the fans want, somebody comes along and docks him points? That’s not right.”
“Sustainability should be about the quality of your balance sheet, not ratios against your P&L (profit and loss). There’s nobody that actually thinks that makes sense.”
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