What can Crystal Palace expect from Woody Johnson, and what can he expect from Palace?
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson is set to become the largest shareholder in Premier League club Crystal Palace after agreeing a deal to purchase Eagle Football's 43 per cent stake in the south London club.
Johnson will become the fourth general partner — subject to approval by the Premier League and Women's Super League — with Eagle's chairman John Textor relinquishing his role by selling to the 78-year-old.
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It marks a new era for Palace, who announced the news on Monday, with the first significant change in ownership since Textor arrived in August 2021.
So what does this mean for Palace, what can they expect from Johnson, and what in return can he expect to come into when he is, as expected, formally approved to be the club's latest owner?
Since December 2015, Palace's ownership structure has been complicated. Originally, chairman Steve Parish was joined by U.S. businessmen Josh Harris and David Blitzer when they bought into Palace and a general partnership structure was formed. That left the three with equal rights over decision-making.
In 2021, with Palace seeking new investment to help complete their £30million ($41m) academy redevelopment and pay off debt accrued during the Covid-19 pandemic, John Textor bought a 40 per cent share for £87.5m. That shareholding was later increased to 45 per cent and then diluted down to 43 per cent, with Textor also transferring it to his newly formed Eagle Football multi-club company.
That has left Palace with four general partners, who each have 25 per cent of the voting rights regardless of their individual holdings. Parish is the executive chairman and has led decision-making since he arrived at the club in 2010, when he was one of four supporters to buy it out of administration. There are a significant number of smaller shareholders with minor stakes, but who have a very limited say in the running of the club, and many of those form part of Harris and Blitzer's group.
Harris and Blitzer are generally supportive of Parish's decisions and are effectively 'silent partners' who prefer to stay in the background and trust Parish to run the club. While Textor was not aligned with the other partners, Johnson is likely to be more akin to Blitzer and Harris in his approach as the fourth partner.
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There are weekly ownership calls and although decisions can, in theory, be voted on formally, that has not happened in practice.
It is this ownership structure that has caused Palace a headache in their most successful season, one which saw them win the FA Cup and accumulate their highest Premier League points total (53). Winning the FA Cup allowed them to qualify for the Europa League, but so did Lyon, majority owned by Eagle, leaving the clubs potentially in breach of UEFA's multi-club rules.
Yet, Palace's argument has been that Textor does not hold decisive influence, evidenced by him repeatedly expressing frustration at the lack of collaboration between his other clubs — Lyon, Brazilian side Botafogo and Belgian club Daring Brussels — with Palace, and that he has been shut out of decision-making.
With Eagle selling its stake in Palace, there is some hope that it will help to smooth the pathway to participation in the Europa League, to remove any conflict of interest between them and Lyon. While that is not guaranteed, it is thought to be part of the reason Textor has sold to Johnson.
Despite some hope that it might, the sale has not helped Textor satisfy the DNCG that Lyon are able to comply with their financial regulations. The French governing body confirmed Lyon's relegation to Ligue 2 on Tuesday after it was provisionally imposed in November following an audit of their finances. The club will appeal the decision.
But with Eagle now out of the picture, Palace's ownership should return to its steadier setup. Textor, though, was generally keen to participate in capital calls and pushed for more investment.
It remains to be seen to what extent that approach is supported by Johnson, but he will be expected to contribute where required. Palace are eager to redevelop their Selhurst Park stadium, with costs having risen to in excess of £200m. Parish has generally avoided funding projects or transfers by taking on debt, but that is an option on the table for the stadium redevelopment, depending on the willingness of the other owners to put money in.
Regardless of anything else, Johnson will be stepping into a club that is effectively run solely by Parish, owns its stadium and training ground, has a revamped state of the art academy, is financially secure with only a small amount of debt, and is enjoying the most stable and longest period of success in its 120-year history.
Johnson was President Donald Trump's pick as the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2021 and is estimated to hold a net worth of $3.3billion (£2.5bn), per Forbes.
The 78-year-old has owned the Jets since 2000, paying $635m for them — at the time the third-highest fee ever paid for a sports franchise. Johnson was unsuccessful in his pursuit of a deal to buy Premier League club Chelsea in 2022, but has had his eye on a top-flight side in England for some time.
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His reputation as an owner, however, is not the best. With the Jets, he was considered to be an over-involved, impulsive owner, The Athletic reported in December following conversations with current and former players, coaches and team executives. He is also said by sources in that same reporting to have denigrated his own players in the locker room and seemed to follow decision-making advice from his teenage sons.
One former player with the Jets told The Athletic that it was 'the most dysfunctional place imaginable'. That report also said he had been heard to make disparaging comments about players. Johnson declined The Athletic's request for comment.
In 2023, however, the Jets were named one of NJBIZ's (a New Jersey business journal) best places to work in New Jersey.
Johnson conceded in February that he would 'have to look in the mirror. I have to be a better owner. I'm trying to be better', and that he needed more patience. He appeared to be prepared to take a step back in how he managed the Jets.
The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), which is the NFL's player union, stated that 'rather than addressing concerns, players believed that management responded to feedback by making conditions worse', and ranked the Jets 29th out of the 32 teams. Their 2025 report card said: 'The Jets' ownership grade dropped from a B- to an F, with Woody Johnson receiving the league's lowest owner score for contributing to a positive team culture.'
Johnson's average rating in that report card for 'perceived willingness to invest in the facilities' is 5.58 out of 10 from Jets players, the worst in the league. 'The players feel that Johnson does not contribute to a positive team culture,' it says.
Parish, though, has extensive experience in managing relationships given his 15-year stint as Palace chairman. He has overseen the arrival of Textor and the challenges that presented over a wrestling for control of the club.
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Unless there is no alignment on the direction of the club, which seems unlikely given the three partners gave their consent for the deal to be done, then the concerns around Johnson's ownership of the Jets should not transition across to Palace. He is the controlling owner of the Jets and would be restricted at Palace by Parish and potentially Harris and Blitzer, who have generally tended to side with the chairman.
It is not expected that Johnson will play a significant role in the way the club is run, although he will work with the other partners where relevant and is happy to be involved. That would seem to largely negate some of the criticisms levelled at him, as they appear to largely be focused on how he has run the Jets, a role he would not have at Palace.
In his favour is his experience in the UK as a diplomat and familiarity with both the UK and London, while he is likely to have encountered Harris, owner of the Washington Commanders and a fellow Republican Party donor, and both Harris and Blitzer, who own stakes in multiple American sports teams. His wealth, which comes both from his successful business ventures while also being heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, if he is willing to invest in Palace, will not be a sticking point as it might have been with other potential investors.
He attended Palace's 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park in May, and conversations with Parish in particular have intensified over recent weeks as it became clearer he would be the buyer of Eagle's shares.
This appears to be a marriage of convenience that works, to a degree, for everyone — at least for now. Johnson finally has his investment in an English club, Textor is now free to move for another English club where he has total control of decision making to help with the value of his IPO, and Parish removes a thorn in his side who has repeatedly questioned his approach.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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