GEOFF THOMAS knows exactly how Crystal Palace fans are feeling after Uefa booted them out of the Europa League.
That is because the former England midfielder was their captain when Uefa denied them what should have been a European spot in 1991.
Crystal Palace celebrate winning the FA Cup final after stunning Manchester City at Wembley in May to qualify for Europa League
Geoff Thomas, seen here tussling with Paul Gascoigne, was captain of Crystal Palace when they were denied entry to the UEFA Cup despite finishing third in 1991
And he blasted: “It feels like the little club has been pushed aside again in favour of somebody with more money.”
Palace finished a club-record third while second-placed Liverpool were banned from Europe following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985.
But in April 1991, with only a few games left, Uefa announced they were allowing Liverpool back in.
And it felt like deja vu for Palace legend Thomas when Uefa stated they were relegating his ex-club to the less glamorous Conference League because they had fallen foul of multi-ownership rules.
John Textor, who has a controlling stake in Lyon, owned 43 per cent of Palace before he agreed to sell it last month. And Uefa have opted to boot FA Cup-winners Palace out at the expense of the French team who finished sixth in Ligue 1. Nottingham Forest have been told they will take the Eagles’ English spot.
This is despite the Eagles winning the FA Cup by stunning Manchester City in May’s final at Wembley.
Thomas, who is currently raising money for Care Leukaemia by riding at his SEVENTH Tour de France, told SunSport: “It’s as though Uefa have found a loophole not to let Palace into a competition which they rightly qualified for after winning the FA Cup.
“The little club has been pushed aside again in favour of somebody with more money.”
The injustice of 1991 was the goal-posts for European qualification being moved with only a few games left — when it had been believed all season, if Liverpool finished in the top two, third place would secure a UEFA Cup spot.
Crystal Palace fans protest against Uefa’s decision to deny them a Europa League spot
John Textor’s stakeholding in Crystal Palace broke Uefa’s multi-ownership rules despite the American selling his shares
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish is appealing Uefa’s decision to relegate the club to the Conference League at the European Court of Sport Arbitration
Geoff Thomas has been raising funds for Care Leukaemia by riding the Tour de France
Thomas said: “It felt like a pipe dream for a club like Palace to get into Europe but with us sitting third during an incredible season everyone thought we were going to do it.
“Then all of a sudden when we qualified for Europe the ban was lifted on a great side. There’s no getting away from that. We were devastated.
“Everyone wanted Liverpool to be in Europe — but they were banned for crowd trouble.”
It had a devastating effect on Palace’s fortunes which eventually saw them relegated two years later.
Thomas, who made 195 appearances for the Eagles, said: “We went on to lose key players like Ian Wright, Mark Bright and Andy Gray.
“We had a good nucleus of a side with players like Nigel Martyn and John Salako.
“Had we got into Europe that would obviously have allowed us to increase our player power in the transfer market.
The Palace team that went on to finish a club-record third in the top flight
Crystal Palace’s legendary manager Steve Coppell had huge stars such as Mark Bright and Ian Wright among his ranks
Geoff Thomas was one of Crystal Palace’s most influential players
“And it would have helped get Selhurst Park up to some sort of order. It would’ve given us the perfect opportunity to redevelop the ground.”
Thomas believes it was a watershed moment for the club – and added: “We had just narrowly missed out on winning the FA Cup in our first season in the top flight in 1990 and then we finished third.
“It just felt like we were a team that was really gelling and building. We were a group of guys who probably, in some ways, had a last chance to make a name for ourselves.
“And collectively, we were doing that. We were such a tight bunch and so similar.
“I can see many similarities to our present-day squad in terms of the characters and skills.”
Thomas believes the 1991 team could have gone on made a name for themselves on the continent.
The Palace 1991 team also won the old Full Members Cup at Wembley
He said: “It’s always hard to say once an opportunity is gone — but we had the abilities in that squad to really upset some of the bigger European clubs at that time.
“So we’ll never know exactly what would’ve happened and that’s why it was so frustrating. And the same can be said with this present team.”
Chairman Steve Parish is appealing the decision by taking it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Yet in a worst-case scenario Palace will at least compete in the Europa Conference League, which Chelsea and West Ham have won.
But Thomas rapped: “Yes but it feels you must go very deep into that competition, probably the semi-finals, before you can get any sort of atmosphere or excitement.
“The earlier games just feel like another match and more trauma on the pockets of fans.
“Palace supporters deserve better than this. They’ve been a real force behind this team’s success, building a huge reputation for being the most vocal and should be looking forward to playing some of Europe’s top teams.”
Geoff’s incredible Tour de France triumph
GEOFF THOMAS will cycle into Paris on Sunday completing a staggering SEVENTH Tour de France spanning 2,074 miles.
The 60-year-old former Crystal Palace star was marking the 20th anniversary of his first appearance at the event just months after he miraculously beat blood cancer.
Thomas is raising funds for Cure Leukaemia, founded by Prof Charlie Craddock, who helped save his life.
Thomas was initially given THREE MONTHS to live in 2003 but Craddock put him on chemotherapy treatment that took his life expectancy back to three years — before performing a stem cell transplant from his sister Kay that put him in remission in 2005.
Yet having competed in six Tours, his last one four years ago, he feared his cycling days were over when he got grade four arthritis in his knees.
Thomas said: “Premier League medical advisor Mark Gillett told me about a hydrogel injection called Arthrosamid that he could give me through a company called Regener8 Healthcare.
“It gave me instant relief in January and after a couple of weeks I was back on my bike training for this.
Geoff Thomas has been competing in his SEVENTH Tour De France and raised down the years millions for Care Leukaemia
Crystal Palace legend Geoff Thomas cycling through the streets of France
“I’ve not been able to train as much as the other guys but wanted to be involved as it’s not only 20 years ago I went into remission and rode this event but have reached the grand old age of 60.
“My dad died at 60 just a few weeks after being diagnosed with lung cancer so it was all very poignant.
“He smoked 80 cigarettes a day. I thought he lived happily throughout his life, maybe naively, but having reached 60 myself there is so much more to look forward to. So this was a little nod to him.”
Thomas has enjoyed cycling down the years and has raised millions of pounds for Care Leukaemia.
And he tells a great story about the time his ex-Palace team-mate Ian Wright joined him and John Salako in a charity ride from London to Paris.
He said: “It put him off cycling. Wrighty is always a bundle of fun — but when he was on a bike he wasn’t!
“He wasn’t very good. He had his good mate Mitchell Thomas trying to look after him — but just kept falling off his bike. On one occasion he went headlong into a bush!
“Wrighty has since retired from cycling!”
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