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UEFA confirmed last week that the FA Cup winner had been thrown out of the UEFA Europa League and would instead play in Europe's third-tier tournament in 2025-2026 due to a multi-club ownership issue, as John Textor's company, Eagle Football Holdings, held a 43.9 per cent stake in Palace while also controlling Ligue 1 club Lyon.

Lyon was provisionally relegated from France's top tier and kicked out of Europe over financial issues last month. However, it won an appeal against that decision and will now remain in Ligue 1 and Europe's second-tier competition, at the expense of Palace.

Textor has since sold his shares in Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and resigned from his leadership role at Lyon, but those actions came too late to alter UEFA's ruling.

Palace has argued Textor had no meaningful influence at Selhurst Park and has pledged to appeal, with Parish confirming it intends to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

"We are still fighting," he told Gary Lineker on The Rest is Football podcast. "There's an appeal process, so we go to CAS, which is the court for arbitration, and we're very hopeful. We think we've got great legal arguments.

"We don't think this is the right decision by any means. We know unequivocally that John didn't have decisive influence over the club. We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it's a fact.

"There are many legal points we have about the validity of the rule, the date and the way it was communicated. Hopefully, when we go to CAS, we'll get the right answer."

Should UEFA's decision be upheld, Forest will take Palace's place in the UEFA Europa League, having qualified for the UEFA Conference League via its Premier League position of seventh.

But Parish feels Forest, whose owner Evangelos Marinakis placed his shares in a blind trust in order to get around multi-club ownership rules because of his control of Olympiacos, has influenced UEFA's process.

"We're led to believe that's the issue," Parish said, when asked if Forest had petitioned for Palace's expulsion.

"If there wasn't someone who wanted to get in as a consequence, then there wouldn't be a problem.

"People have to look at themselves in terms of what they do. Some people say it's fine, some say it's not. I don't have control of that. I have control of the arguments we put forward to UEFA.

"It does look bad. We're a medium-sized club. This is the dream. It's what keeps football alive. It's why everyone goes. One day, you might win a cup and qualify for Europe.

"People say, 'you're in the [UEFA] Conference League, so that's fine', but if you win the [UEFA] Europa League, you get into the [UEFA] Champions League. These can be defining moments for clubs and can completely change the course of a club's history forever.

"Football has to take a look at itself and decide what it wants. I am led to believe that there are forces that don't want the cup winners to get into that competition."