Textor admits Palace UEL fears after Cup final

American businessman John Textor has said his immediate reaction to Crystal Palace lifting the FA Cup in May was that of worry.

The winners of the FA Cup are granted qualification to the Europa League but Palace's involvement in this season's competition is at risk due to UEFA's rules over multi-club ownership.

Eagle Football Group, Textor's holding company, have a 43% stake in Palace alongside owning French side Lyon. Despite securing qualification to the Europa League last season, both sides face the prospect of being denied entry into the competition.

According to UEFA regulations, if a party has more than a 30% stake in the two different clubs, they cannot participate in the same European competition.

The repercussions for his two clubs became immediately evident to Textor at Wembley Stadium following Palace's historic FA Cup triumph.

"'Oh s***', is what I thought," he told Talksport of his reaction after Palace beat Manchester City 1-0 in the final.

"I was very happy, but I felt the gravity of it. And I was concerned on the same day holding the cup next to the Prince [William].

"It was a great, great moment. And I couldn't have been happier, I couldn't have been happier for the fans, but I was worried about what was coming there."

Textor is in the process of a £190m ($254m) sale of his stake in Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, but the deal is yet to be confirmed.

Meanwhile Lyon's relegation to Ligue 2 over financial issues, that was overturned on Wednesday, saw Textor step down from the board and resign from his post as president.

Despite these developments, UEFA are yet to make a ruling on the clubs' involvement in the Europa League and a source told ESPN that a decision is expected in the next few days.

"I am dumb enough and successful enough to not sort of predict in advance what a governing body is going to say," Textor said.

"At times, I've been so confident at how we would come out of a hearing with the DNCG or with UEFA.

"So just never, ever, ever try and predict what they're going to do. I think it's insulting to them. I think they deserve to make a decision, and I don't want to prejudge it.

"I think this talk of trust is only if you have decisive influence. Why should I put my interest in trust back before March when the rule says you only have to do it if you have decisive influence? I don't.

"But you don't see one single player from our network of clubs that's made its way onto the Palace roster.

"Which is the source of my frustration with the lack of collaboration that we've been able to have with Crystal Palace."