Steve Parish aims dig at Nottingham Forest as Crystal Palace clinch Europa League place

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·27 May 2026

Steve Parish aims dig at Nottingham Forest as Crystal Palace clinch Europa League place

Eagles were demoted to Conference League after complaint raised by Midlands rivals

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish said the ‘good guys won’ after Crystal Palace were crowned Conference League champions, in a thinly-veiled dig at Nottingham Forest.

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The Eagles edged Rayo Vallecano 1-0 to win UEFA’s third-tier competition, their first ever foray into European football, but it is not the competition they were due to be in.

They had qualified for the Europa League by winning last season’s FA Cup, but were demoted after falling foul of multi-club ownership rules due to then-stakeholder John Textor’s stake in Nice.

The decision was made after a complaint was raised by Nottingham Forest, who had initially qualified for the Conference League but ultimately replaced Palace in the Europa League after they lost an appeal.

But Palace ended up coming out on top, winning the Conference League as Forest ended the season empty handed, having been unceremoniously dumped out of Europe by Aston Villa.

Speaking pitchside from Leipzig, Parish was more than a little bit smug.

"To be in Europe, travelling round Europe [is one thing] but to come and win it is incredible and it hasn't really sunk it,” he told TNT Sports.

“It's an incredible achievement.

"The players, the staff, all of the ups and downs we've had this season, it's brilliant to get here and to get into the Europa League where we deserve to be.

“It just shows that sometimes the good guys win in the end, I think.”

He continued: "When I bought the club I wasn't sure we'd ever play in Europe, let alone win a trophy. It's a dream come true.

“We have got a taste for it now, we want to keep it going. We have gone up a level and we have got to try and stay there. We will have a week to celebrate and then work hard in the summer."

Palace manager Oliver Glasner, who will call time on his spell with the club after this match, echoed the sentiment, saying it helped him motivate his squad in his pre-match pep talk.

He added: “I said to the players, get now what you deserve after winning the FA Cup: the Europa League. I think now, this was the one-year delay. Sometimes, clearly, you have to take a round trip and now we are there.”