Oliver Glasner couldn’t resist the temptation. As he addressed the crowd after his last match at Selhurst Park on Sunday, the Austrian who will go down as Crystal Palace’s greatest manager showed he retains his sense of humour. “Now I’m leaving, I don’t have to agree with the chairman,” he said with a smile. “He said the best day was the FA Cup final but I don’t agree. The best day is still to come in Leipzig.”
Should Palace beat Rayo Vallecano in Wednesday night’s Conference League final to win a third trophy in 12 months, Glasner’s stay will have a fairytale ending that barely seemed possible in the dark days of January. After the holders were stunned by Macclesfield in one of the biggest FA Cup shocks recorded, he accused the chair, Steve Parish, of abandoning him by then selling the captain Marc Guéhi to Manchester City and told supporters who had chanted his name on three successful trips to Wembley last year to “stay humble”.
What a difference three and a half months and a maiden European adventure have made. Somehow Glasner managed to galvanise Palace to reach another final and he has the chance to follow up his Europa League triumph with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022. “It would be a great way to finish the movie off,” said the goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who replaced Guéhi as captain. “Everyone wants that happy ending and everyone’s working towards that.”
The England goalkeeper achieved instant hero status after saving a penalty in last year’s FA Cup final against City and put £1,000 behind a bar on his way home from Wembley. Henderson revealed this week that he experienced depression that left him not wanting to get out of bed for three days after Palace won that first major trophy in their history. He also said after the team beat Shakhtar Donetsk 5-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals this month that Palace’s controversial demotion from the Europa League, after they were deemed to have breached rules on multi-club ownership, had been the inspiration for their Conference League run.
Victory here in eastern Germany would assure a spot in the Europa League that was cruelly snatched from them, albeit they would have to navigate next season without the expertise and nous of Glasner. His next destination remains a mystery but whatever happens, the 51-year-old, who has been living apart from his family in Austria since replacing Roy Hodgson in February 2024, will leave south London with a heavy heart.
“I will go home and have a rest on my terrace and enjoy my family,” he said after the defeat by Arsenal on Sunday – Palace’s 59th game of an unrelenting season. “When you have this schedule, it’s for me now also giving them time back. This is what they deserve and what I think I deserve as well. Then let’s see what the future brings. I really had more than two fantastic years of my life, and not just in football, but everywhere at this club. That’s what it’s all about and I think I could help to develop and progress Crystal Palace.”
Glasner paid tribute to the scouting department that spotted Michael Olise – recently voted the Bundesliga’s player of the season – and Arsenal’s title-winner Eberechi Eze in the Championship. West Ham’s relegation means only the big six and Everton have been in the Premier League for longer than what will be Palace’s 14 successive seasons – not bad for a club that failed to avoid relegation in their previous four Premier League campaigns in 1993, 1995, 1998 and 2005.
“This is a huge achievement for Crystal Palace,” Glasner said. “It’s a huge achievement for Steve Parish. He took the club over when Palace was in administration and they got promoted. I know Steve now quite well and I know he will always do what’s necessary to stay in the league. I think 12 Crystal Palace players will go to the World Cup and that means it will be a very short pre-season with many challenges. But I can promise the new manager whoever he will be, he will find a fantastic group of players, fantastic characters who are really always working very hard to succeed. This is the foundation of every success.”
Palace will be strong favourites to round off Glasner’s stay in style against Rayo, whose wage bill of £30m a season is a fifth of theirs. Palace’s players have spent the past fortnight preparing to face a side unbeaten in seven La Liga matches and will not underestimate them.
“We showed them how they will press us, what we need in possession, how we want to get pressure on them, how they are going to play,” said the Palace manager. “Now it’s just getting the fine-tuning. We don’t want to change anything and we won’t change anything. It’s a final and now everything is possible.”