Palace appeal for common sense

Crystal Palace owner Steve Parish is finding it difficult to even comprehend it has got this far. The club's supporters feel the same.

For those with Palace connections, it is a nonsense that their place in the Europa League - secured following last season's historic FA Cup triumph - has been ripped away from them by Uefa red tape.

Yet they are where they are. Parish led his legal team into battle on Friday morning at a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing which Palace hope will see them reinstated into European club football's second-most prestigious competition.

Palace feel they have assembled a strong case. Part of their appeal hinges on an understanding that Nottingham Forest were afforded extra time to comply with the same multi-club ownership rules Uefa concluded Palace had breached, but the Eagles were not given the same time.

Palace feel the simple matter of common sense means they are allowed back into the Europa League.

Often, however, common sense in football doesn't prevail. That is Parish's fear.