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Textor invests in Belgian club RWD Molenbeek

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John Textor, one of Palace’s co-owners has been announced as the new owner of Belgian side RWD Molenbeek. This news comes just days after it was announced that he had also agreed to a 90% ownership deal for the Brazilian club Botafogo.

The American businessman is clearly in the market for football teams around the world. We wouldn’t be surprised if he had another deal in the pipeline. The global pandemic has hit all businesses hard, especially football clubs that haven’t been able to play at full capacity during the height of the pandemic.

What’s also clear is that he wants to invest in clubs that have the potential to grow. R.W.D Molenbeek is currently in the second league and only first is promoted to the top Belgium league.

RWDM is known for producing young talented footballers at their academy. Adnan Januzaj and Michy Batshuayi are two of the most famous names that have graced the Premier League.

Words from Molenbeek’s President

“We are very much looking forward to working with Mr Textor, who has a great passion for football, developing young talent and the RWDM rules,” said President Thierry Delle.

“Thanks to this investment, RWDM will be able to continue professionally and be able to realize its future ambitions. John Textor’s access to the club’s capital will help develop the team, club infrastructure and youth categories,” says the statement from the Belgian club.

Textor’s comments

John Textor hasn’t been on the club’s TV chanel yet like with Botafogo, but he did have this to say to Belgian Eleven Sports:

“I’ve seen Molenbeek play. I’m a subscriber to your channel, I realized that when I saw the microphones. I’ve been following Belgian football and the national team for a few years now. I like to watch various football matches both live and through streaming platforms. I saw four or five Molenbeek games and loved the style of play. It’s a technical style, with a lot of combinations and it’s entertaining football”

Another American investor in Belgium football

Textor isn’t the only American businessman to invest in Belgium football clubs. Another of Palace’s co-owners David Blitzer owns Waasland-Beveren who are in the same division as Molenbeek. That’s going to be a fun battle between the two Palace owners.

The chairman of Crystal Palace’s rivals Brighton, Tony Bloom, is also invested in a Belgium side – Union SG. They were promoted last season from the First Division B after winning the championship.

Maybe there will be some loans between Palace and Molenbeek like what happens with clubs with the same owners.

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Crystal Palace’s 2023/24 Premier League Season Fixtures Announced

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Empty Selhurst Park Stadium with "Crystal Palace 2023/24 Premier League Fixtures" white text

With the start of the Premier League season less than two months away, next season’s full list of fixtures has been announced.

Crystal Palace will start the new campaign with an away match against newly-promoted Sheffield United on 12th August, and their first home match is against Arsenal on 19th August.

The return fixtures see The Eagles face Wolves away on 11th May, with the season concluding at home to Aston Villa on 19th May.

You can see the full list of Crystal Palace’s 2023/4 fixtures in the table below.

MonthDateMatchTime
AugustSaturday, 12thSheffield United v Palace15:00
AugustSaturday, 19thPalace v Arsenal15:00
AugustSaturday, 26thBrentford v Palace15:00
SeptemberSaturday, 2ndPalace v Wolverhampton Wanderers15:00
SeptemberSaturday, 16thAston Villa v Palace15:00
SeptemberSaturday, 23rdPalace v Fulham15:00
SeptemberSaturday, 30thManchester United v Palace15:00
OctoberSaturday, 7thPalace v Nottingham Forest15:00
OctoberSaturday, 21stNewcastle United v Palace15:00
OctoberSaturday, 28thPalace v Tottenham Hotspur15:00
NovemberSaturday, 4thBurnley v Palace15:00
NovemberSaturday, 11thPalace v Everton15:00
NovemberSaturday, 25thLuton Town v Palace15:00
DecemberSaturday, 2ndWest Ham v Palace15:00
DecemberTuesday, 5thPalace v A.F.C. Bournemouth19:45
DecemberSaturday, 9thPalace v Liverpool15:00
DecemberSaturday, 16thManchester City v Palace15:00
DecemberSaturday, 23rdPalace v Brighton & Hove Albion15:00
DecemberTuesday, 26thChelsea v Palace15:00
DecemberSaturday, 30thPalace v Brentford15:00
JanuarySaturday, 13th or 20thArsenal v Palace15:00
JanuaryTuesday, 30thPalace v Sheffield United19:45
FebruarySaturday, 3rdBrighton & Hove Albion v Palace15:00
FebruarySaturday, 10thPalace v Chelsea15:00
FebruarySaturday, 17thEverton v Palace15:00
FebruarySaturday, 24thPalace v Burnley15:00
MarchSaturday, 2ndTottenham Hotspur v Palace15:00
MarchSaturday, 9thPalace v Luton Town15:00
MarchSaturday, 16thPalace v Newcastle United15:00
MarchSaturday, 30thNottingham Forest v Palace15:00
AprilTuesday, 2ndA.F.C. Bournemouth v Palace19:45
AprilSaturday, 6thPalace v Manchester City15:00
AprilSaturday, 13thLiverpool v Palace15:00
AprilSaturday, 20thPalace v West Ham15:00
AprilSaturday, 27thFulham v Palace15:00
MaySaturday, 4thPalace v Manchester United15:00
MaySaturday, 11thWolverhampton Wanderers v Palace15:00
MaySunday, 19thPalace v Aston Villa16:00

Please note that all fixture dates and times are subject to change, as we found out last season with the many train strikes and the death of Her Majesty The Queen.

More Premier League Fixtures Information

  • The Premier League has promised to provide at least six weeks’ notice for broadcast selections until December 2023 and five weeks’ notice from January 2024 until Match Round 37.
  • No club will be required to play over the Christmas and New Year period with less than 48 hours between matches. During this period, Palace have two home matches and one away match.
  • A mid-season player break is scheduled in January, with matches split across the weekends of 13th and 20th January.
  • Some fixtures may move from Saturday to Sunday due to the participation of Palace’s opponents in European competition. This could affect the home fixture against Tottenham Hotspur (currently set for 28th October) and the away game against West Ham United (2nd December).
  • 200 matches will be broadcast live in the UK by Sky Sports, TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport), and Amazon Prime Video. Sky Sports will televise 128 matches, TNT Sports will show 52, and Amazon Prime Video will show 20. BBC Radio 5 Live and talkSPORT will provide radio coverage, including commentary of the 15:00 matches on Saturday afternoons.
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Palace Major Shareholder Trying to Find Funds to Complete Lyon Takeover

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Mbappe running with the ball against Lyon defenders

Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor was successful with his bid to take over the French Ligue 1 side, Lyon. However, he’s now in search of the funds as the deal is worth a whopping $799 million.

The American businessman is looking to acquire around 66% of the club’s shares which would obviously make him the majority shareholder. He’s already received investment from Cannae Holdings, which is controlled by Billy Foley who also owns the Nevada-based NHL team, Vegas Golden Knights.

With only two weeks left before the sale deadline, Textor is busy finding investment from people that he knows to get it over the line.

John Textor owns roughly 40% of Crystal Palace along with the other Eagles’ owners, Steve Parish, Josh Harris and David Blitzer. As we’ve reported before, Textor has bought up majority stakes in other football clubs including RWD Molenbeek in Belgium and Brazilian side Botafogo.

If his sports investment company, Eagle Football Holdings LLC, is successful in acquiring 66% of Lyon’s shares then he would have spent well over $1 billion in a short space of time.

Crystal Palace’s academy players are already benefitting from this multi-club approach. For example, Luke Plange is currently on loan at RWD Molenbeek where Textor is a majority shareholder.

There are always arguments against the multi-club system as some of the teams under the same ownership can end up as ‘farms’ for the bigger clubs. Meaning that they will sell the best players to the larger clubs in the group.

John Textor has already come out and said that this isn’t his plan, but we’re likely to see more academy players going out on loan to these other clubs that Textor and Harris, and Bitzer own.

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Palace’s September fixtures with Man United & Brighton Postponed

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Hand and pen with 'reschedule' written in black and red

With the Premier League season only six matches in, September is set to be a quiet month for Crystal Palace. Eagles fans already knew that the match with rivals Brighton & Hove Albion on the 17th of September would be cancelled due to another train strike across the country.

Then, the surprise death of Queen Elizabeth II meant that all Premier League matches were called off as a sign of respect. This means that Crystal Palace would have only played one fixture in September, the 1-1 draw away to Newcastle.

Crystal Palace vs Man United Match Postponed

The Crystal Palace fixture with Manchester United was postponed due to the Queen’s death. The two teams were set to face each other on the 12th of September in a Monday night clash at Selhurst Park.

Every other Premier League match was also called off over the weekend and this is why the match didn’t go ahead as a sign of respect. The difficult part now is to find when this game will be played.

Manchester United already have a packed fixture list due to the Europa League group matches and with Palace’s fixture with Brighton also being cancelled it’s going to be hard to reschedule them before the start of the World Cup in November!

Crystal Palace vs Brighton Match Postponed

Crystal Palace’s fixtures for their match against rivals Brighton was postponed due to train strikes on the day of the match. The majority of Palace fans would have got the train from Croydon and this obviously wouldn’t have been possible with the strikes.

The fans and players of both clubs look forward to this fixture each season so for it to be pushed back is disappointing. Brighton will have a new manager when the two teams do end up meeting as Graham Potter left the Seagulls to join Chelsea this month.

We’ll wait to hear when the Premier League finds a new date for this away match against Brighton.

When is Crystal Palace’s next match?

The fact that these two matches were postponed and with the international break taking place due to the Nations League fixtures, Palace’s next match isn’t until 1st October against Chelsea. 

Funnily enough, Graham Potter’s first Premier League match with new club Chelsea will be against Palace after he joined from Brighton in September. The players that aren’t involved in the international matches will have some time off although they’ll still be training to keep their match fitness levels up.

This extended break could also mean that injured players like James McArthur, James Tomkins and Jack Butland are fit to return to team training and even feature in the squad.

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