What went wrong at Palace?

Eight months to the day from delivering the greatest moment in Crystal Palace’s history by winning the FA Cup there seems to be no way back for Oliver Glasner. An abrupt early ending feels like an inevitability. Joy has turned to despair. Frustration has grown. Anger has simmered. Tensions have risen.

Another emotional outburst from the Palace manager, to follow an astonishing press conference just over 24 hours earlier, has surely created an intolerable situation after scathing criticism of the club’s hierarchy.

Some fans, too, seem to have turned on him, even if there is at least some acknowledgement that his anger comes from being dealt a terrible hand.   Against that, it should be noted that there was a heartfelt article in The Times yesterday by a Palace fan saying that they had lost the best manager they ever had.

As full-time came at the Stadium of Light and Palace had suffered a 2-1 defeat to make it 10 games without a win, Glasner walked over to acknowledge the away end. He held up both hands, seemingly by way of apology, only to be greeted with booing and jeers from many of those remaining fans who had not already made their way out of the stadium.   (But away fans may not represent the fan base as a whole).

He walked in to conduct his post-match media duties and did not hold back. There was an outburst again about the lack of support in the transfer window. He and his threadbare squad felt “abandoned” he said, by the club’s hierarchy. More scathing criticism of the board followed.

The players’ “hearts had been ripped out” the day before a game on two occasions this season, he added. He could not comprehend how the club could sell Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi the day before a game. It was clear he felt undermined.

It seemed to him, effectively, that they were content with simply avoiding relegation, lacking in ambition. 

Glasner is emotional and impulsive and this reaction was borne from a burning injustice that he clearly feels over being let down by the club in the transfer window. But it has happened with him before, at Wolfsburg and then Eintracht Frankfurt. 

If this is to be the end of Glasner at Palace, then it is simply a shame it has unravelled like this. That he felt it necessary to speak out so publicly, that he was let down, and that the most successful manager in their history, for all his faults, did not feel adequately supported. All of that is regrettable.

Palace fans will come to their own views, but I do think it is very difficult for any club that seeks to challenge the big six (even if they have substantial funds behind them like Newcastle United).  Villa are something of an exception, but the weakness of Spurs has cleared some space.

Crystal Palace looked like they were on the verge of something more than a secure lower mid table position.   Why and how it has all gone wrong requires much thought and analysis.   Plotting a route back will be challenging.