The glow is back, and this time it feels continental. I love football. It creates such fascinating questions.
Where else in life could a sixth level outfit upturn a European champion?
Where else would you find a spunky bugger like Steve Parish living the club’s biggest ever moments in adjoining bottom spots to the chief of the multinational that just stuffed his biz for millions?
What on earth did Parish and Ceferin talk about all night? Did anyone mention the song?
And where else in life could an entity like Crystal Palace recruit a humble genius like Oliver Glasner as its leader? A 2 + 2 that added up to a big fat 10?
The Best
It’s been a remarkable ride. From the refreshing demolition of Burnley in his first match in charge, Oliver Glasner has imprinted his personality and his powerfully positive belief, initially on his wonderful coaching team, then on his players and ultimately on all of us.
Glasnerball is so much more fun – and glorious – than Royball. I am not drawing comparisons. Just stating facts.
We win more games than we have ever had. And we win big games, which we never have.
This is so Palace, it’s almost poetry. A south London club from Selhurst Park. European champions. Let that sink in for a second.
Oliver Glasner, we will miss you.
You have, with your team of coaches, changed thousands of lives. For good. For exciting, good.
Thank you for a storybook two years. Even in the face of unbelievable exits. Michael Olise, now German Player of the Season and Ballon d’Or contender. Ebs is already a Premier League winner. Marc Guehi has won the FA Cup, lost it, and won it back, all inside 12 months. It will be a long time before anyone matches that record.
As must be obvious, I am glittering all over. However, reality calls. Glasner’s already told the club where to go. Onwards and upwards. And he pointed in the direction of the Europa League.
Winning on Wednesday has changed the face of 2026/27
While European nights are great fun, Thursday-Sunday remains a road ahead that is littered with challenges. The skipper said it a couple of weeks back.
Dean Henderson: “The competition is so difficult. Playing every three days, coming back from wherever we were, it is tough. To do what we have done in the Premier League is incredible.”
We finished fifteenth in the Premier league, just six points away from relegation.
We’re not alone. Winning in Europe and at home was too much for Brighton. And, while two English clubs have lifted this European trophy in just the last four years, one was since relegated and the other is Chelsea. What stops us from becoming Leicester? Or Wolfsburg? Five years ago, Oliver Glasner took them into the Champions League. They have just been relegated.
Steve Parish knows the dangers well. Staying in the Premier League is always his first priority. And we have not been the type of club that plays in Europe every season. But we are now. Thanks to Oliver Glasner.
Many questions are currently burning for every Palace fan: have the club learned the lessons of Thursday-Sunday play? Will the Board equip the new coach with the squad he will need? How will the club afford it?
Making the squad strong enough
All eyes now must be on the squad. Who is fit. Who graduates from the Academy. How our loan army is handled. And who we buy.
For fitness, Palace seem to have been fortunate this year – or perhaps it’s the skilled medical team? Certainly, injuries seem to have had less impact than in previous years. Long may that luck continue. That doesn’t mean nobody’s been unlucky with injuries – particularly Cheick Doucoure and Caleb Kporha. A few weeks from now, it’s hoped both will be new additions to the squad we’ve watched in the season just ended.
As for the Academy, it looks like Rio Cardines and Kaden Rodney, both in the squad for Leipzig, will be providing extra options for the new coach. Plus, before long, maybe already, those pushing for a place in the first team squad will include Dean Benamar, George King and Joel Drakes-Thomas.
With a minimum 48-match season starting two months from now, it’s not unreasonable for the new coach to consider all of these young talents – and all will, quite naturally, be hoping for more first team minutes.
Can we expect anyone to graduate into the first-team squad from the loan army? Danny Imray, David Ozoh, Tayo Adaramola, Romain Esse and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi are all performing regularly at Championship standard, while Joe Whitworth and Owen Goodman are two young goalkeepers appearing regularly in the lower leagues. And then there’s the enigma – Matheus Franca – currently far away in Brazil.
Will the new coach bring any of these into the first team squad? If not, will any of them be sold to help pay for pressing needs for the new season?
Which brings us back to buy low, sell high
Have we managed to replace a key genius we lost along the way? Dougie Freedman’s name is written through the team that we’re loving today, the team that lifted the trophy in Leipzig.
Perhaps the recent window was a difficult one, being January, and having a new Director of Football in the job, but it does seem ironic that the substantial wealth generated by the buy low, sell high departures of Eze and Guehi has been spent on high-cost names who have yet to earn automatic starting roles. Mind you, if Brennan Johnson and JSL do produce next season to justify their fees, we’re in for a thrilling ride!
Which, as always, brings us back to Steve Parish
The man who holds the purse strings, sets the budgets and brings the strategy to life. In the financial statements, he says: “The club’s core strategy is to develop and improve the infrastructure of the club, increase revenues while building the strongest and most competitive squad possible with the goal of consistently challenging top teams in the Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup and European competitions”.
When it comes to the new coach, Steve is also chief recruiter. From the moment Glasner told Steve he was leaving, Parish had eight months to select a replacement. We are seven months in now, so the process should almost be complete. We’ll know very soon. As soon as June ends, we’ll all be distracted by the World Cup…. But every day without a new coach is, as Steve well knows, a really valuable day lost. We can’t afford too many of those.
Sad farewells
I’m sad to say goodbye to Jeff Lerma. When he signed, of course, his reputation got here before he did – what with his cards and suspensions, let alone upsetting our Mr Andersen. But now I enjoy Lerma’s positioning, his decisive passing and his telepathic relationship with Danny Munoz. Lerma is still Premier League standard as a midfielder and a central defender. He’ll be hard to replace.
And very sad to see Daichi Kamada depart. After a difficult start, I realised that Kamada had become the beating heart that drove Palace to the series of away wins that silenced stadiums across England and Europe. Kamada’s effort, anticipation, passing and biting tackle will all be much missed. The wage bill might be a lot slimmer, but those boots will take some filling.
Ending on an optimistic note
Let’s all hope for one player above all to fulfil his potential next season. Yeremy Pino is like Jaydee Canvot in my view – a Rolls Royce player who doesn’t quite get it right all the time, but is a joy to watch. Pino is without doubt the unluckiest player we’ve seen in a Palace shirt for years. Only VAR and the woodwork have kept his goals tally so low. So it looks like the real barrier is luck. And luck will change. When it does, we’ll see the full benefits of Pino delivering his potential. Like Canvot, I think this is a beautiful player in the making.
As ever, this is just one view. Keeping it Palace.
