Scudamore & Cameron stitch Palace up over EU

Steve Parish responds in bullish style on BBC Radio 5 Live:
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Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has slammed the Premier League's claim that all 20 top-flight clubs want to stay in the European Union. And the Eagles co-owner claimed celebrity endorsements from stars like David Beckham was “the politics of the playground”. Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore claimed yesterday that the 20 clubs backed a Yes vote at the recent AGM because leaving would be “incongruous” to its commitment to “openness”. This was then re-tweeted by David Cameron. But Parish told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We didn't have a vote. Every single position in the Premier League requires a vote. Unlike some of the things in the EU, the Premier League is a democracy and we get to vote for things. And we didn't vote for that. This club would like to distance itself from that statement. I don't think it is for Premier League clubs to decide how people vote. "Unless I fell asleep in a meeting which I don't think I did, we didn't have a vote on whether we endorsed a view to stay in Europe. “And for me, I don't think it is the position of a football club to tell anyone to vote in any election. It is extraordinary that David Cameron would tweet that as a fact and use our logo as if we are endorsing one view or another. We were never asked. "We have probably got a split inside our ownership group, we haven't debated it internally and we would certainly like our supporters to vote with their conscience and based on the facts that they know and not because the football club is encouraging them to do anything.” Parish added: “I think people are fed up. In the last two days, David Beckham has said we should stay in – it is the politics of the playground for me. "Let's marshal as many people that we revere and respect on each side and try and get them to force people's view. I think people are fed up with the whole campaign and for me to put all 20 Premier League clubs in favour of remain in the hope that maybe football fans will vote for Remain because they see their club's logo - is that how we want to stay in the EU or leave? - it is very disappointing for me.” Withdrawing from the EU could pose problems for European players gaining the automatic right to play here like now. But the Palace boss, a successful businessman who sold his international design and production agency Tag Worldwide in 2011, said: “If we were to leave, we could give anyone we want a work permit from anywhere in the world. You are not honestly saying if we left the EU, the UK government would say we couldn't have German footballers here. I think most people think there are probably a lot more things in this debate rather than if a German footballer can come and play in England or not. I think it is far bigger and more important than that.”