The Palace chairman says Joshua Harris and David S. Blitzer could have ended up in control at Villa Park.
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish
Crystal Palace chairman and co-owner Steve Parish has claimed that his partners in charge of the club, American billionaires Joshua Harris and David Blitzer, wanted to buy Aston Villa before investing in the Eagles, as quoted by Football365.
Parish took control at Selhurst Park in 2010, leading a consortium to bring the club out of administration and installing himself as chairman.
In December, Harris and Blitzer agreed a deal to become co-owners of the club with each purchasing shares equal to Parish’s in return for an injection of capital investment.
Crystal Palace part-owners Joshua Harris and David Blitzer
Harris is the principal owner of NHL side New Jersey Devils and NBA franchise Philadelphia 76ers, with Blitzer also holding a smaller ownership stake in each club.
Now, Parish has confirmed speculation that arose two years ago that both businessmen were keen on buying Villa from Randy Lerner some 18 months before joining Palace.
Villa Park
Whilst discussing Palace’s signing of former Villa striker Christian Benteke, Parish said, via Football365: “They [the investors] have more money than me!
“But they looked seriously at buying Aston Villa before and so he was a player that was familiar to them and they wanted to do it.”
Villa were put up for sale in May 2014 by Lerner, but it took him exactly two years to find a buyer, with the Tony Xia-led Recon Group purchasing the club for a cut-price fee following their relegation last season.
New manager Roberto Di Matteo and New owner Dr Tony Xia pose after the press conference
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