Clouds Over Selhurst

When he arrived in London, Oliver Glasner appeared to have one of the toughest jobs in the Prem. Crystal Palace, in the midst of a relegation battle, seemed to be teetering on the edge without any hope.

Now, after leading Palace to a FA Cup victory and Europe, Glasner’s time with the Eagles may be ending.

Even before taking the Palace job, Glasner promised to be one of the more interesting managerial prospects in Europe. Despite winning the Europa League with Frankfurt, the Austrian failed to garner any sort of major market.

Palace bought low and reaped the rewards for appointing Glasner. Having languished in the final season under Roy Hodgson, the club desperately needed a shot in the arm. The Austrian struggled at first, but a little over a year after his appointment, he delivered them the FA Cup.

With his contract running out and no extension seemingly on the way, where do both parties go from here? The club deserves credit for the transfers they’ve pulled off, essentially building a solid top ten club in the span of a year. For Glasner, he may find himself in a similar boat as Emery, where the market may be cold for a manager of his talents.

As Palace continue to challenge for a Europa League spot, this storyline will continue to bubble.

While it may not threaten to derail Palace’s season, coming to some sort of decision soon would be beneficial for all.

Both parties needed one another when the club appointed Glasner as their new manager. In each other, they saw redemption after a period of uncertainty.

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The past decade saw the Eagles become one of the best watches in the Prem. A true Barclays-era side, they produced some of the most fun players to watch. Tied at the hip with their iconic player, Wilfried Zaha, Palace played some entertaining football, but never truly won.

By the time of Hodgson’s appointment in 2023, the club saw its trajectory heading towards the bottom of the table. Hodgson only seemed to slightly postpone a potential relegation, as his style quickly seemed out of place in this new era of the Prem. Seeing clubs like Southampton, who were similar in their stature, being sent to the Championship, the Eagles needed to make a big move.

Glasner popped up seemingly out of nowhere as a worthy gamble. The Austrian fell into the Eagles’ hands to the benefit of both sides.

After winning the Europa League with a talented Frankfurt side, Glasner should have commanded more of a market. Even before his time with Frankfurt, the Austrian showed flashes of top managerial potential with Wolfsburg. Getting that Europa League title should have had some of Europe’s top clubs come looking his way.

No shot at Crystal Palace, but going to a relegation battle after winning the second-best European competition felt like a downgrade. However, Glasner found the perfect partner in Palace. With a motivated ownership group, he built a talented side that competed at a high level.

Winning the FA Cup in his first full season, Glasner showed that he was still a top-class manager.

Palace, at the same time, finally made that move into the echelon of times just below the top six.

Concerns over how Palace would balance the league and European competitions grew over the summer. Despite being denied a chance at the Europa League, both parties pulled together to continue the Eagles’ impressive momentum.

Given the trajectory that this partnership continues to show, an extension of this relationship makes sense. As time ticks down week by week, the situation only gets more awkward. 

After spending the past few years finding the right project, Palace finally seems to have found its path forward. Great scouting and player development built a side that moved the team from a bottom-half side to a challenger for Europe. Unlike other clubs in this range whose foundation relies on young prospects, Palace finds intriguing youngsters and surrounds them with competent veterans. 

Should the club feel confident in the future post-Glasner, plenty of clubs around them give bad omens. Betting on yourself without the proper plan is what leads clubs to become Forest or Wolves. Unlike those two sides, the Eagles do possess a better ownership that may look at Brighton as the model for long-term success. 

It does feel like Glasner may have a larger market should he be a free agent in the summer, but he may run into a similar issue as he did after 2023. Unai Emery serves as a good example for the Austrian. The Spaniard remains with Villa, continuing to prove to be one of the top 20 managers in Europe, but misses out on larger opportunities.

No top-six job, unless Tottenham makes a drastic decision, seems to be in the cards in the summer, with the prospects across the continent bleak. Maybe the Juve job opens up or even the Dortmund one. Perhaps the best solution lies in staying with Palace until the next step for Glasner appears.

Strangely enough, a divorce may not totally derail the futures of the two. Palace built a spine that can sustain a change, while Glasner rebuilt his image.

Despite all the good vibes emanating from Selhurst Park, the weird cloud over Glasner’s future remains as a sour spot. While bright futures exist for both sides, one would have guessed that any future success would lie in a continued partnership.

In all likelihood, Glasner will commit long-term to the Eagles, but the chance of the two parties wanting to bet on themselves remains.