Crystal Palace owner eyeing shock takeover of EFL club if he sells Eagles stake
John Textor has turned his sights on Watford after failing to swap Crystal Palace for Everton earlier this year in pursuit of expanding his multi-club ownership model
by Felix Keith · The MirrorJohn Textor reportedly wants to cash in his chips at Crystal Palace in order to fund a takeover of Watford.
Textor owns a 45 per cent stake of Palace but has been trying to sell since falling out with chairman Steve Parish and co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer in February. The American businessman also owns Lyon in France, Botafogo in Brazil and Molenbeek in Belgium and wants another club to add to the structure.
He came close to buying Farhad Moshiri’s majority stake in Everton earlier this year, but is now looking elsewhere. The 59-year-old was granted a period of exclusivity in August, but the deal fell through, in part due to the complications surrounding his shares in fellow Premier League side Palace.
Textor is desperate to find a British side for his multi-club ownership scheme and believes Watford could be a better fit. According to The Sun, he has held talks with Watford owner Gino Pozzo about using shares in his investment company Eagle Football to take the Championship side over.
The Pozzo family also own Udinese and Watford’s experience of the multi-club ownership model is attractive to Textor. Watford are valued at £150-175million by Pozzo, while Textor is looking for £230m for his stake in Palace.
Textor said in September that he had received two “good bids” for his stake in Palace, one of which is understood to have come from Investment group Sportsbank, led by Zechariah Janjua and Navshir Jaffer. Fellow US businessmen Harris and Blitzer are also weighing up the possibility of buying out Textor.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror in August, Textor explained the situation: “I am still an owner in Palace – I would have to clear out of that before I could buy anything else. We have made clear our interest in having a majority interest in a UK club, whether it is Championship or Premier League.
"Yes, we are looking at Everton along with everybody else. I would have to rationalise my interest in Palace before I could close anything.
“I am an Anglophile when it comes to football. When I see these legendary teams come along, some in the Premier League, some in the Championship, clubs that I grew up with, they have an appeal. They also have an appeal to our business model because if I follow these great teams, then so do athletes around the world."
Watford are currently fifth in the Championship table, four points adrift of the automatic promotion places. The Hornets, who are managed by ex-midfielder Tom Cleverley, have flitted between the Premier League and the Championship and were last relegated from the top flight after finishing 19th in 2021/22.
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