Matt

Computing teacher. Fan of aviation, science, technology, books, photography, plastic modelling and more.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@OhLottie Yeah, just for maths and English teachers. Reports go out Friday too 🤷‍♂️

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@OhLottie @CPFC Of course. I'm surrounded by other teams fans and I will totally be revelling in Palace's successes.

[Crystal Palace F.C. @CPFC]

Crystal Palace, Champions of Europe ❤️💙

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@TexBetsy @oldandrewuk Same in my computing room. Snapped, missing ear covers, wires pulled out, deliberately tangled up. No way accidental.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

Do you remember when you joined X? I do! #MyXAnniversary

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@guythomasholder @oldandrewuk Yes = I (tentatively) agree, but = highlights consequences worse than the original issue in applying given solution.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@guythomasholder @oldandrewuk The problem in this assertion is that it is not a minor inconvenience. The solution proposed endangers anyone who shares their information with these companies. The govt advises not putting such information online. Would you post an image of your passport/driving licence online?

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@guythomasholder @oldandrewuk OK. This is not the solution to the problem given.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@oldandrewuk This: https://t.co/CAXpC0tDMU especially the part where they say they'll delete immediately but it turned out not to have been (surprise!) and was then leaked. Or this: https://t.co/5JcXjWXau6 there is no reasonable expectation that any data given to these companies is safe.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@oldandrewuk US company with offices in USA are subject to US laws. They don't have a physical presence in the UK. They can say they'll be enforced but this hasn't been tested yet anywhere.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@oldandrewuk Yes, they're based in the USA. If we roll out age checks the company doing the checks should, at least, be based here and subject to our data laws. There's also anecdotal evidence that they're a dodgy startup in a tiny office in San Francisco too but I can't verify that.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@guythomasholder @oldandrewuk True, but you want to be able to trust the company that's doing the verification and these days it isn't just showing the ID, they keep it and use it for who knows what. My point isn't that we shouldn't check, but that we should have a trustworthy system to do it.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@oldandrewuk Persona's T&Cs state that they'll delete data after 14 days or 6 months depending on which bit you read. They've already had 2 data breaches. They pretty much say they'll do anything with your data or share it with anyone. This is not a trustworthy company to be using for this.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@oldandrewuk But now, when you flash your ID to get served you have to risk sensitive data to unknown entities who keep the data and do undefined things with it.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@oldandrewuk Surely they are restricted now through ratings like BBFC and PEGI? Arguably, traditional media e.g. cinema don't restrict content, local entities do, like the BBFC.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@oldandrewuk Sure, there's some horrible content out there. I heard an analogy about this: "just because chn are scared of the dark doesn't mean everyone else should sleep with the lights on." there's always been issues with chn accessing stuff, this adds more risks to all.

[Matt @WhatMattThought]

@oldandrewuk True. But the recent Tea App scandal & other data breaches show that giving passport, driving licence, etc. data to unregulated entities online is worse. Especially when the govt's own advice is not to do this. It's not the ideal solution as it's so easy to bypass and has risks.

[HLTCO @HLTCO]

I wrote this out a week or so ago as a full on explainer of Palace’s POV over all of this, in case UEFA decided to demote us or kick us out of Europe altogether, given how many neutrals are likely to see the decision and then ask for the intricacies of it all.

It’s Palace’s perspective, I’m not saying that UEFA are right or wrong before bundles of neutrals get on my case, it really is just an explainer in the most thorough way I can manage on here.

Cheers.

Shares weren’t placed into Blind Trust because John Textor never had decisive control.

He has spoken openly on many occasions about Parish being the man who calls the shots at Palace well before this issue became newsworthy.

If Textor did have anything like “decisive control”, it’s fair to assume that we would be in just as much of a financial hole as every other club he gets his hands on. In reality, Palace are prudently run and have always remained comfortably inside PSR regulations, whilst Lyon’s debt has increased alarmingly throughout Textor’s time at the helm.

Given he had clear and decisive control of Lyon without any ambiguity; why weren’t his shares in the French club placed into Blind Trust?

The Deadline for putting shares in Blind Trust was July 1st until this year; why would you move that to March 1st when the season was still in full swing?

We were playing Millwall in the Round of 16 on the day of the March deadline; it’s hardly as if we were on the verge of winning the first major trophy in our entire history. We had to beat Fulham (A) + Villa and Man City at Wembley to get there from that point.

Lyon only got into the Europa League on the final day of the season thanks to a 99th minute Le Havre equaliser at Strasbourg which elevated Lyon into their Europa League spot on GD; it’s hardly as if this was a likely scenario back in late February.

John Textor had been actively trying to sell his stake in Palace for well over 18 months prior to the Blind Trust deadline, simply because he had no tangible influence behind the scenes and grew extremely frustrated at running into a brick wall time and time again.

His aim had always been to bring us into his multi-club model alongside Lyon, Botafogo and Molenbeek only to be told repeatedly that the other members of our board had no interest in such a shift of strategy.

The only piece of business done between the two clubs throughout John Textor’s time on either board was the sale of a fringe first-team player in Jake O’Brien (who made 0 Premier League appearances for Palace) to Lyon in the summer of 2023.

John Textor has now agreed to a sale of his shares in Palace to American Woody Johnson, meaning that with Premier League approval, there is zero tangible link between Textor and the club.

John Textor has also stepped down from his role as the head of Lyon with Michelle Kang taking his place, meaning that by the time the Europa League draw is made, the man UEFA are seemingly worried about having influence will not be involved in the decision making process at either club in any sense, decisive or otherwise.

Lyon were initially relegated to Ligue 2 by the DNCG after accumulating more than €500m of debt and being warned back in November of 2024 that they needed to get their house in order by June of 2025.

Following the call to relegate them, they were given a 2 week period to get their house in order, removing John Textor from the position at the head of the hierarchy and injecting further funds into the club, despite little to no sign that it’s anything other than a plaster on a long-term gaping wound.

With French football in a major mess in terms of TV contracts and general interest in Ligue 1, there was a widespread desire from stakeholders outside of the Lyon bubble to ensure that they were reinstated to the top tier, future proofing the league as a whole from further drop offs in interest rather than dishing out appropriate punishments for financial mismanagement on a major scale.