Holy sunshine! Still grinning from Saturday? That was a statement showing. For fans in red and blue, beating Brighton was ALL about the ferocity and efficiency of Glasnerball.
Saturday felt like high class Glasnerball. Fans’ faces at the final whistle told the whole story. We’re having a feast of fun with the players displaying fearsome energy. We saw fierce shots, spectacular saves, standout stars, and more heart and courage than most top teams could muster in a month of Sundays.
In its purest form, Glasner’s brand of football is pretty strong stuff, and his record at Crystal Palace shouts out some telling numbers ……
From being parachuted into the job unexpectedly:
2023/24: 13 games, 24 points (average 1.84 points per game)
With a squad robbed of 4 important players pre-season for a £20m profit:
2024/25: 8 games, 3 points (average 0.37 points per game)
With a settled squad (except Chilwell for Chalobah):
2024/25: 22 games, 40 points (average 1.81 points per game)
Glasner wins matches. In 51 top level games for Palace, Glasner has 25 wins. We’ve not been that good in at least 30 years!
Glasner Delivers
A 1.80 ppg seems to be his preferred speed – that’s 68 points a season, which would be enough for a Premier League Top Six spot every season for the past 7 years. Just think what might happen if only the Board gave Glasner a transfer budget!!! So far, Glasner’s spend is minus net zero.
Meanwhile, Glasner game plans continue to be mini masterpieces of sports strategy, and – when seen working in real time with his coaches – his in-game management frequently changes scorelines positively.
The End Product Of Glasnerball?
At Saturday’s final whistle, Glasner glowed. The players glowed. Fans glowed. In fact, we all glowed together. We were two players down and still Brighton couldn’t beat the Palace! At the centre of it all was Glasner, whose very own brand of football is fast becoming the beating heart of our team every game they play.
Each player has a role that’s important, but without Glasner none of this happens.
One year left on his contract, one further year the club can extend. But we all know Glasner is the hottest managerial property in the Premier League just now. And here’s where reality might be cruel. Every day agents, lawyers and money find ways to break contracts.
What Guarantees Do You get?
Steve Parish is deciding now how much to charge for season tickets. Forcing Palace fans to take a future view for twelve months.
But you don’t know, you can’t tell, if Glasner will still be manager. The ones who can remove that uncertainty, now, are Steve and the board.
Glasner Delivers Certainty
If left alone to do the job, Oliver Glasner provides a brand of football with an unusual degree of certainty to it …. plus the promise of more excitement than we’ve ever had before!
Would You Pay £1 Extra?!
If you knew you were going to see a Palace team led by Glasner, and you knew your £1 extra will be passed direct to Glasner and his coaches, would you be happy to pay it? The maths are interesting.
If everyone paid (and obviously some can’t pay) an extra pound at the ground, it would create up to £25,000 per home game. Paying direct to Glasner and his coaches might make only a slight difference to their pay packets ……. but the message created by Palace supporters would be a first of its kind, and of course loud and very proud. Most important, it would reach 4 groups of people who really matter to us right now:
- Glasner and his coaching team, showing them the love the fans feel for the way Palace play football with Glasner in charge.
- Steve Parish and the board, telling them how very extra-important it is to fans that Palace hold on to Glasner.
- The players, pointing to the unique passion of Palace fans – no other fans go this far.
- Anyone including talented kids when they’re considering whether to join Palace or go elsewhere.
The value you’ll receive from your 25/26 season ticket is most dependent on Parish and his decisions. And right now, Steve Parish has so many balls in the air, I hope none of them are his.
Something big coming?
Every time Dougie Freedman leaves the Palace, I get a bad feeling – and something big does always happen.
1997 – Freedman left after 31 goals in 90 games, went to Wolves. And Palace soon suffered administration.
2008 – Freedman left after scoring 64 goals in 237 matches. And Palace soon suffered administration again.
2012 – Freedman quit as manager when Palace were surging up the league with an 8-match unbeaten run. Third time lucky! Palace were soon promoted.
Wherever he goes, Palace is in Freedman’s blood. He’s a club leg end. 18 years! 8 as player, 8 as recruitment guru and nearly 2 as manager.
Hard to believe, but Stockport now looks like just one of the many, many stops on Freedman’s tour to fundamentally improve the Palace to the level we saw on Saturday.
Building The Palace DNA
Find. Recruit. Develop. This strategy is now Palace DNA, and two thirds of that was Dougie Freedman.
Without Freedman, this team would not be packed with star players. Guehi, Wharton, Lacroix, Henderson, Mateta, Munoz, Eze and more ……. each a huge talent, every one discovered and recruited for Palace by Freedman. Yet, unsurprisingly perhaps, I would argue his most successful “find” was manager Oliver Glasner.
Now, we face a Dougie-less future.
Or do we? Freedman loves the Palace, we’re told he’s left a list of viable targets to sign this summer, and most importantly he has not defected to the opposition. Because, while Freedman had the pick of several Premier League giants, he chose (phew!) to leave for a non-Newcastle version of the Saudi PIF.This means Dougie’s new job won’t place him in competition with Palace for any league, any cup or any players. Players Palace want cannot possibly be interested in the Saudi second level.
So why not seek to put Freedman on a consultancy? This way, Palace could continue to benefit from his talents, his contacts and his scouting network – even though he’s thousands of miles away.
We can’t lose 3 stars in six months – can we?
Having lost Dougie Freedman to the world’s fattest chequebook, well, losing one star can happen. But we may have to face the fact that we’re also losing Guehi. If Glasner were to leave too, we would be 3 gems down in 6 months – now, that would leave even Parish red faced and blue.
Act Now Steve!
Steve Parish knows he has to act fast to prevent a problem. If we lost Glasner now, Palace might receive compensation, but it could never be enough to finance the recovery from the setback we would all suffer.
Parish Should Slap This In Glasner’s Hand Right Now: 8 Reasons Why
You know where this writer stands. Five months, ten league wins and a Cup run ago, we published an article urging Palace to extend the contract of the soft spoken, humble Austrian manager. But Parish still hasn’t done it. Come on, Steve! What’s holding you up?
