Cardiff Say Defeat Against Crystal Palace Should Not Stand; Send Formal Complaint to Premier League

Cardiff City have sent a 5-page formal complaint to the Premier League to argue that the club’s 3-0 loss against Crystal Palace should not stand because the Cardiff team line-up was leaked to Palace manager Tony Pulis before kick-off, according to BBC Sport.

The text message allegedly read: “Straight from Gunnarsson their line up is 4-4-2 Marshall, KTC, Caulker, Turner, Taylor, Daehli, Medel, Mutch, Zaha, Campbell, Jones”.

Cardiff midfielder Aron Gunnarsson denies leaking the team line-up.

As it was, the team line-up that was leaked to Pulis was in fact the starting line-up that Crystal Palace played against Cardiff.

The 5-page letter sent by Cardiff City’s lawyers to the Premier League alleges that Tony Pulis knew that Crystal Palace Sporting Director Iain Moody was trying to obtain the line-up before the game. Moody was the director of recruitment at Cardiff last year but was sacked by the club and replaced by a friend of the owner’s son.

Cardiff says they have proof that Moody succeeded in getting the line-up, and that this breaches league rules.

If Crystal Palace are found guilty, the Premier League could give Crystal Palace a three-point deduction. But the league first has to assess whether there’s a case to answer.

The formal complaint that Cardiff sent to the Premier League hasn’t been published, but BBC Sport obtained a copy of the letter. Part of the formal complaint read:

“This was not merely an attempt to obtain confidential information – Crystal Palace succeeded in their efforts and achieved an unexpected 3-0 win over the club. We will never know the extent to which the confidential information affected the outcome of the match.”