Oliver Glasner is ambitious and when a club fails to match his aspirations there can be trouble, so it is safe to assume he has heard much from Crystal Palace that he likes. At Wolfsburg in May 2021, despite success, the Austrian departed because he felt it was difficult to take the club forward with the level of investment that summer and it was similar when he left Eintracht Frankfurt last summer. Now he is poised to replace Roy Hodgson at Selhurst Park.
Wolfsburg had just qualified for the Champions League but a strained relationship with the sporting director Jörg Schmadtke caused him to quit. In his next job, with Eintracht, he won the Europa League. His aim throughout this season while unemployed has been to move to England, where transfer budgets are more generous. Glasner held talks with Ajax, Marseille and Lyon over vacancies but was persuaded by his mentor Ralf Rangnick to seek an opportunity in the Premier League.
People who have worked with Glasner believe Palace, who first inquired about him last year, have pulled off a coup. Sven Mislintat was very impressed with Glasner during an interview while working as Ajax’s director of football but could not tempt him to the Eredivisie.
The Palace sporting director, Dougie Freedman, will need to work closely with Glasner to provide him with what he wants. The Scot is regarded as being more relaxed about the head coach having an influence than others Glasner has worked with. Palace have rarely been extravagant in the market, often focusing on tried and tested players along with younger acquisitions from the Championship, which has reaped rewards. They have finished between 10th and 15th over the past decade but this stability is yet to be built on.
Glasner was approached by Nottingham Forest to be Steve Cooper’s replacement after being recommended by George Syrianos, an adviser to the board, who felt his style would perfectly fit the squad. A verbal agreement was made but Forest elected to hire Nuno Espírito Santo. There was a potential sticking point with the Forest deal caused by the fact Glasner wanted a seat at the table when decisions on transfers were made. Glasner’s style is to play 3-4-2-1 and his interest in transfers is based around an eagerness to get players who fit each role perfectly.
He played more than 500 games for SV Ried but never earned an international cap before having his career ended after a brain haemorrhage. The fact he did not excel and had his playing years cut short may explain his desire never to accept second best.
Throughout his managerial career, Glasner has been popular with his players. He is regarded as an honest coach who is respected by his charges. No punches are pulled when in conversation with players but the aim is to provide advice that will help the individual or team improve. Glasner puts a lot of trust in his players and offers freedom of thought, keen to avoid making everything in a match scripted.
Glasner’s on-pitch vision can be traced to his time working for Red Bull. He spent two years as an assistant coach at Salzburg under Roger Schmidt, who went on to manage Bayer Leverkusen, PSV and Benfica. Although the formation is important to Glasner, his style is based more around the behaviour of players when it comes to understanding the high press and counterpress.
Getting the best out of strikers is also important for Glasner, who aims to put pressure on defences and be effective in the box. At Wolfsburg he had Wout Weghorst, who scored 45 goals in 84 games, before turning Randal Kolo Muani from relative mediocrity into a World Cup runner-up with France and later selling him to Paris Saint-Germain for €80m (£68m) after a prolific season.
This will be the first time Glasner has begun a job mid-season, without a summer to prepare his players and get them to understand what is wanted. Palace had a measly 23% of possession against Chelsea on Monday and Glasner will be eager to have more of the ball. It will be a big shift in style from the cautious approach of Hodgson and Glasner will need the squad to get up to speed quickly. When holding talks with other clubs Glasner was wary of taking over during the campaign but few Premier League jobs become available and he concluded he could not risk missing out on another.
The appointment will be a boost to the Palace fans, desperate to see some less conventional thinking from the hierarchy. It looks like a fine hire in the short term but to make it a long-lasting marriage there will need to be give and take.
