Crystal Palace confirm Eberechi Eze went to QPR without their knowledge
Crystal Palace say they had no knowledge of Eberechi Eze’s visit to watch his former club Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup on Saturday. Palace outlined their concern at the winger’s apparent failure to abide by Covid protocols and said they would speak to him and deal with the matter internally.
Their comments came after QPR’s manager Mark Warburton admitted his club made a mistake in allowing Eze to attend the game against Fulham.
The 22-year-old was allowed to sit in the directors’ box at Loftus Road despite the ban on fans and the national lockdown. The Football Association is understood to be looking into the incident, which appears to be the latest example of footballers breaching Covid-19 protocols.
Eze, who joined Palace from QPR for about £20m in the summer, was pictured not wearing a mask as he sat in the stands.
Palace said in a statement: “QPR have acknowledged they made a mistake in hosting Eberechi Eze in the directors’ box at Saturday’s FA Cup match against Fulham without our knowledge. Whilst we recognise Eberechi’s desire to support his former teammates, he accepts it was an error of judgment to attend the match.
“We were also concerned to see pictures of Eberechi not wearing a mask at certain moments and are speaking to him about these apparent lapses, which will be dealt with internally.”
Palace’s manager, Roy Hodgson, said last week that no further breaches of government guidelines by his players would be accepted after Luka Milivojevic broke the rules on New Year’s Eve. Milivojevic issued an apology after his household mixed with the Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrovic and his family.
Warburton said: “We know the situation that society is facing in this country – we are all very aware of it. QPR as a club have stringent protocols in place that we apply very strongly to every single player and staff member. On this occasion we should have declined the request. It’s as simple as that. We made the error.
“Eberechi is an outstanding character. I can’t speak highly enough of him. He made a request, we should have said no. On this rare occasion we have made a mistake, it’s as plain and simple as that. It will not happen again.”