French club Lyon have been demoted to Ligue 2 because of the poor state of their finances.

Can the Premier League do that to a club in England?

Any players from Lyon worth having?

Ian, yeah, the possible Lyon bargain shelf has some attractive items... we've been connected to winger Nuamah for months, and they have a couple of other hot young forwards in Mikautadze and Fofana, although the latter seems headed for Chelsea.

And Ian, from what I'm reading, the relegation doesn't keep Lyon out, so Textor's share sale will still go through (Woody Johnson is kind of a turd), but I still think we dodged a bullet not having that guy as our owner.

As to the Seamus controversy, I'm among those who believe he now lacks the legs for the Prem, based on the last few games I saw him play, when he couldn't close down to prevent a cross -- similar to what we saw from Bainesy in his final season. But we've heard subsequently that Seamus was out there despite carrying an injury.

If Moyes thinks he can still play, I'm willing to accede to his judgement. And if our $8 billion owner thinks he's worthy of a contract, because of his playing skills or his leadership presence or both, I'm not gonna dispute that either. Seeing folks complain about what "we" pay a player always makes me smile, because "we" don't have the name Friedkin on our checking accounts. It's his money, not ours.

Paul @1… well, yes and no.

Yes, a Premier League club could be relegated due to financial issues.

Remember the bit where the corrupt Premier League were making up the rules as they went along with us? Well, in reality, all the rules were written in the Premier League Handbook, where the punishments they could come up with included expulsion from the Premier League (relegation, in effect, if the EFL would have you).

But no, technically it wouldn't be the Premier League doing the relegating. It would be the Independent Commission, who actually had the task of making up whatever punishment they felt warranted.

But we didn't like them rules... so we printed thousands of 'Currupt' placards… and we stayed up anyway — even though the Premier League were apparently out to have us relegated.

Micheal, thanks, I was worried about what the corrupt P L could do, but as you said, they can make up and alter whatever they want, to keep us all, well most of us, in control, Man City and Chelsea not included.

Did you hear about the Chelsea owner making profits on ticket resales? He owns a company called vivid seats.

Angry Chelsea fans called on the Premier League to act and investigate co-owner Boehly's 'unauthorised' resale website Vivid Seats, which sells tickets at vastly inflated prices. Supporters have claimed that Boehly's actions are a "breach of trust" and also undermine attempts to combat ticket touting. Boehly is an investor and director of the US-based Vivid Seats, which is on the Premier League's list of "unauthorised ticketing websites".

Premier League asks Chelsea to clarify relationship with Todd Boehly's 'unauthorised' ticket resale website

I thought Lyon being relegated opened the door for Palace to compete in the Europa League. Two clubs from the same ownership group cannot both qualify, this is what supposedly kept Lyon out of the Club World Cup since Pachuca was in that competition. Maybe irregularities from Textor's involvement changes that?

Selling Eze and unwinding from Textorl could tie Palace in knots, allowing us to jump over them as well. Hopefully, the Jets owner will show us what a good Yank he is and get greedy on terms.

Dale (6), they've been relegated due to poor financial state but it's not stated that it was due to points being deducted.

I presume the records still show them finishing high enough up in their domestic league to qualify for the Europa?

Might just be a formality for them now to be expelled from the European competition they qualified for?

I was listening to TalkSport in the car travelling home yesterday and heard this. Could it happen in England, Paul @1? It probably could depending on the crime. Financial irregularities sounds a bit different from breaking whatever the French equivalent of PSR or UEFA FFP.

I wonder if they will still be able to compete in the Europa League, which they qualified for? I didn't catch that bit.

There was also an interesting interview with an East Midlands journalist about Leicester. Although financially, they will be protected by the parachute payment, apparently they are still likely to have a points deduction follow them into the Championship, which could have wider consequences. All doesn't seem well at that club.

And then another with an Italian correspondent about the demise of the once great Sampdoria. Those, particularly from the 80s will remember them as being one of the big Italian clubs. Extraordinary story from last season.

Having fallen from grace and languishing in Serie B, they finished 18th and were relegated. However, Brescia were deducted 4 points at the end of the season, meaning they went down and Sampdoria were handed a lifeline with a playoff position.

They won the first leg 2 - 0, but then in another bizarre twist, the second leg was abandoned due to a pitch invasion and smoke grenades on the pitch, with Sampdoria winning 2 - 0, so they looked safe. The Italian football authorities awarded them a 3 - 0. win.

Dale, hopefully the JEsTerS owner will do to Palace what countless Jets owners and management team have done over the years. They are, I think (I'm away so cant check) the team with the longest streak without making a post season game. They are totally dysfunctional.

There are videos of their draft selections picking dud players for positions where they had no need. They signed one of the best quarterbacks of the last 20 years for a run at the superbowl and he did his ACL in the first game of the season.

I have a different question:

As the Freidkins own Roma and ourselves, would this be an issue if we both qualified for the same competition?

Keith, in a word, yes.

Mike G’s right.We certainly dodged a bullet with Textor!

We did dodge a bullet with Textor – but it is only down to luck, the fans, a few players who really dug deep (Richarlison, Pickford and others), Thelwell and Dyche that this didn't happen to us.

We have operated as a club as though we were relegated at the end of the 2020-21 season and didn't get a parachute payment. The financials (and ensuing points deductions) would have destroyed other clubs. It is extraordinary that we aren't relegated and bust.

Danny, I remember Trevor Francis signing for Sampdoria.

I was shocked to see them struggling at the bottom if Serie B

Mick - if you remember how good that Sampdoria team were for a period in the late 80s/90s then there's a really good documentary about them on Amazon Prime. Its worth a watch.

The Good Season

so he can't even run Lyon and he wanted to take on Everton as well? We've had a terrible time these last few years, but we've also been seriously lucky in how things have worked out. We've just about used up our nine lives.

The fact he was interviewed in a national newspaper while owning Palace about how he'd prefer to own Everton and entertained the idea of sacking our then manager Sean Dyche demonstrates the lack of judgment this guy has so the demise of Lyon is sad but unsurprising.

Wouldn’t mind Mangala back if we can’t now get him on the cheap….

Wanting to sack Sean Dyche is not bad judgment.

Lyon claim to be baffled by the decision and a club statement reads:

“With proven funds and sporting success that has earned us a place in European competition for two consecutive years, we sincerely do not understand how an administrative decision could relegate such a major French club. We will appeal to demonstrate our ability to provide the necessary financial resources to guarantee OL’s place in Ligue 1.”

Kieran (17), he doesn't ‘own' Palace, he has a significant stake which he was always going to have to relinquish.

Really don't get that there is anything he did in relation to his interest in our club that made this news ‘unsurprising'. Plenty of people learn from their earlier mistakes and do better next time.

Si,

"I like that he has bought the big, tough Irish kid Jake O'Brien but does he like [Botafogo forwards] Igor Jesus or Luis Henrique? Does he have an ambition to coach that sort of profile?

"Does he have a system that would work for a squad that is optimised from the best players in the world?"

You don't think this questioning of Dyche's ability immediately after talking about a hypothetical of employing Abel Ferreira as Everton coach is unprofessional and serve to undermine Dyche while he was Everton manager?

And if not then why did Dyche face questions about it and Colin Chong felt compelled to release this statement:

“Accordingly, the comments made by Mr Textor merely represent his personal view on club matters. Everyone at the club is staying focused on providing the best possible support to Sean and the squad as we head into the weekend's fixture.”

I don't have an issue with Dyche being sacked when he was but I do have an issue with someone who owns a substantial part of a rival club publicly deliberating about whether or not Dyche would be sacked by him if and when he offloaded his Palace holdings and bought Everton.

Textor was all about public profile for himself.

When it came to getting involved with him seriously in business, it would be taking on dealing with a Muppet.

Every Evertonian is a expert on Muppets.