How uncertainty over Glasner future lays heavy on Palace
Crystal Palace have never had it so good. Social media has been awash with Eagles fans posting excitedly about their first European campaign – as their league phase adventure in the Conference League starts with Thursday’s match against Dynamo Kyiv in Poland.
Palace are riding high following last season’s historic FA Cup success, their triumphant return to Wembley in August to lift the Community Shield by defeating Liverpool, and an unbeaten start that has Palace third in the Premier League.
Yet, amid the giddiness, uncertainty is on the horizon.
Captain Marc Guehi has nine months left on his contract and, unless there is an unexpected turn of events, the England centre-back will leave Selhurst Park at the end of the season.
Adam Wharton, their exceptional playmaker, is also being courted by European football’s elite clubs.
Then, of course, there is manager Oliver Glasner – the mastermind of the club’s compelling transformation.
Like Guehi, the Austrian’s contract expires at the end of the season when, as things stand, he will depart.
Glasner’s remarkable story – from the brink of death after a brain haemorrhage aged 37 while playing for SV Ried, to his rise as one of European football’s most respected coaches – is well told.
Emergency surgery saved his life, but retirement as a player followed on medical advice.
Glasner turned to coaching, and thrived. At Selhurst Park, he has brought success to a club that appeared content with survival.
And it is for that reason the 51-year-old’s uncertain future at Palace looms so heavily.
Sources have told BBC Sport that Glasner was offered a new contract earlier this summer, but has yet to put pen to paper on an extension.
Well-placed insiders claim the Austrian preferred to wait until the end of the transfer window before making a decision – a choice motivated by his inclination to see how committed the club were to strengthening the squad.
As the weeks progressed, Glasner was openly critical of how Palace operated in a summer in which the club made a profit of £16.3m.
Of Palace’s five new signings, only Yeremy Pino has started a Premier League game so far.
And then there was the saga of them being demoted from the Europa League by UEFA for breaching multi-club ownership rules.
With all that in mind, it is understandable Glasner has, at best, shown a reluctance to commit.
So that begs the question – could he still be persuaded to stay in the future?
Source: BBC
