One of the great themes in English football last season was the rise of the underdog. Newcastle won their first trophy in 56 years, Crystal Palace won the FA Cup for the first time in their history and Liverpool won the Premier League (that last one is a joke before the inevitable abuse arrives).The Geordies must have thought nothing would top their Wembley celebrations after they bested Liverpool in the league cup final, only for Oliver Glasner’s Palace to turn up in May and down City. Tens of thousands of Blues were even willing to look past the blatant error around Dean Henderson’s handball to be happy for all those Palace fans experiencing the joy of that trophy for the first time.Palace’s win should have qualified them for the Europa League, except you can’t even have straightforward positive stories in the game these days. Some murky multi-club ownership (that’s another joke) saw the South London club hauled over the coals of UEFA justice and then the Court of Arbitration for Sport to decide whether or not they can have what they deserve or not.The upshot, as a result of Palace co-owner John Textor also being involved in Lyon and Lyon having also qualified for the Europa League by virtue of league position and also now having seen their relegation cancelled after they were initially relegated for financial issues, is that Palace look resigned to being demoted to the Europa Conference League.
Confused? You should be.
It looks like a mess, but out of it City could benefit from both decisions if they go as expected. The first cannot be changed, with Lyon definitely avoiding relegation and playing Europa League football this season.Before their shock drop the French club had been looking at loaning a City player for the campaign, having sold Rayan Cherki at a reasonable price earlier in the summer. Such a move is not guaranteed but the prospect of a season in Ligue 1 – home of the Champions League winners and possible Club World Cup winners, no less – with European football on top of it is an excellent destination for one of City’s rising prospects.
If Palace are to be relegated to the Conference League, the English team that would take their place in the Europa would be Nottingham Forest by virtue of having finished in seventh place in the Premier League. They have a longstanding interest in City’s James McAtee, who is available this summer, and a bump up for the club would make them an even more attractive option.
