Virtually from Day 1, this column has been a constant enthusiastic supporter of Oliver Glasner. Back in October 2024, when sack rumours ran rife, we urged the Board to slap a new, improved contract in his hand.
We were convinced early because – after the sterility of Royball when the Golden Goal was sometimes decided by calendar, not stopwatch – Ollie brought back the cheeky challenge of the Palace, and it quickly felt great.
Glasner’s overflowing passion, enthusiasm and above all intensity rapidly generated the warm glow, this never-before-felt excitement to be a Palace fan in these monumental months.
If Palace beat Fiorentina, fever pitch excitement promises to return with 1,000 per cent focus on the 9 or 10 matches that would be left. We can all feel it, it’s so very close. So, apart from the Viola, what stands in Palace’s way as the players strive to make this giant leap forward?
Many Glasner fans feel a deep sense of disappointment
If Oliver Glasner and Palace are to step the entire trail to Leipzig truly together, it might help the Head Coach to revise his view as he works his notice at the club that still pays his wages. His reported comments about the Palace DNA seem to reveal that, even after 2 years in, he hasn’t understood the club he still leads.
His gist is this: the Crystal Palace DNA is that we all live to beat relegation, and that’s the key driver. What on earth would make him think that? Since returning to the Premier League in 2013, we know we’ve not set fires and there’s been some bad starts to seasons, but we’ve never really looked like going down. Between them, Steve made sure Pulis, Sam and Roy made sure of that.
So what makes Ollie think we’re drop-spooked?
Is it because that’s the message from the Palace fans he talks to most? Or has he spent too much time with the directors?
Maybe, just maybe, the impression that our DNA was all about avoiding relegation came from the voices in the boardroom, the three billionaires who’ve been recruited to the cause in the past 10 years and for whom relegation is obviously the number one negative outcome – and preoccupation too, maybe?
Maybe it’s a case of too many zoomchats with too much Johnny Longface on the topic of what if. Coaches can come and go, but relegation must never ever happen.
No, that’s not who the supporters are
Relegation doesn’t scare us. True Palace fans know relegation, and worse. And Palace always come back, because – keeping it humble, of course – there is so much more to this club than a bit of fear.
How about if we start with Ollie questioning the mavericks? Hmmm. Well, Mr Glasner, every single one of the adoring supporters who turned out for the open bus excursion last May was brought up on loving a Palace maverick. Mavericks are fundamental ingredients in development of the Crystal Palace DNA.
From Don Rogers to Peter Taylor to Vince Hilaire to Wright and Bright, to Lombardo then Wilf, and through to the 2020s with Eze and Olise. Players who all made watching Palace so much fun over the years. It’s a history crammed with mavericks, and there are many, many more besides who’ve strained every sinew to win matches by producing the surprise football that is the true Crystal Palace DNA.
Palace fans don’t expect their team to win every game or even consistently play scintillating football, but do want to know that when the ball reaches one of their attackers, it’s going to be entertaining.
There’s a buzz of unique red and blue excitement felt whenever the mavericks turn it on.
Much less exciting, but still essential
Another key Palace DNA ingredient is the new season’s fixture list every June. Many Crystal Palace fans are just as familiar with this list providing the promise of nothing more than, with all respect, Southend, Port Vale and Crewe. Memories are clear.
These days, of course, the blood pumps to see this list in June featuring the biggest names in the English game. And it’s more than just the Palace being in the thick of it, battling for Premier League points week in and week out……
The very best is beating those big names with Palace surprise football
This is where Glasnerball has been such a joy. Silencing away grounds. Watching the “locals” emptying their stadiums as we sing and rub their famous noses in it. That’s why Wembley was so utterly fantastic. Taking on giants, Palace beat them with resilience, skill and a winning game plan.
And the very best bit about Wembley was, it really mattered! Silverware was at stake, and fans of City and Liverpool really wanted to win, badly. They didn’t like losing one little bit, and that’s put smiles on Palace faces, many still today.
Glasner’s brand of surprise football has been missing for 5 months.
For several months now, the smiles of Palace winners have been replaced by dissatisfied scowls from men who no longer seem to adore the job they’re doing. The last time we really saw surprise football was Liverpool at end-September, just before Ollie gave Silent Steve 8 months‘ notice that he and his team were leaving.
It’s been presented to us that it was agreed that this news was never leaked but hey, while nothing lasts forever, the OH SO PROUD 19-match unbeaten run did quickly dissolve. Since then, we’ve played 36 matches and lost no fewer than 14. Lately, we’ve degenerated to a point where Glasner looks like he’s playing a version of Royball, a sight that’s both ugly and depressing. Playing against ten men and we can’t get a shot on target in a whole half of football?
With the benefit of hindsight, it really does look like the news of Ollie’s intention to leave got out some way, somewhere, even if it was just a rumour based on his body language. Whatever the cause, the spell was broken, both on and off the field.
Will the spell now return?
With the Italian team under the Selhurst lights so very soon, Ollie and his men have a massive opportunity to mend the wounds of recent months with irresistible game plans being put together right now for both legs. For Ollie, this is a pulsating opportunity to demonstrate that he gets the Palace DNA once and for all. The Italian giants with a track record of SIX European finals need to be beaten in the Palace way with Glasner’s latest editions of surprise football.
The last time Palace fans truly felt surprise football was beating Liverpool at Selhurst
As we walked on air, glowing from watching Eddie Nketiah stick an added time gobsmacker past the Liverpool defence, who could have guessed we would wait this long to see Palace produce that surging energy again? We could have, should have, scored five that day. No mavericks maybe, but Liverpool were certainly blown away by Palace surprise football.
Will we see Palace surprise football?
With everyone and everything 100% for Palace, this three-week period between Larnaca and Fiorentina needs to result in a new edition of Palace surprise football. The Fanatics will be ready, Selhurst will be rocking long before the Dave Clark Five ….. but will Glasner have the team ready like they were for Liverpool?
To reach that level, we need no more drama, disruptions or departures between now and Fiorentina. And the Glasner game plan needs to be a riproaring special. The players should be fit and fresh. And they will surely be motivated,,,,,won’t they?
Individually, several players will have much to prove
With JSL banned, JPM seems certain to be up front on his own. Regardless of how he feels about Palace now, he certainly should be motivated to make mayhem as he mounts his campaign to take the express route from the Palace bench to the French World Cup squad, impressing potential buyers along the way. He needs a big impact, fast.
JPM is of course only one key player seeming certain to leave the club just a few weeks from now. Kamada is another, while Lerma and Hughes currently have no contract beyond June. It’s beyond hard to motivate yourself if you don’t believe in the project any more.
Then there are the key players who are contracted to stay, motivated to perform on this big stage for the Palace, vastly improved under Glasner and maybe not ruling out a move this summer if one was offered. Munoz and Wharton obviously, but maybe one or more of Sarr, Lacroix, Richards and Henderson too.
Meanwhile, Pino might be motivated by the chance of earning a move back to La Liga, as Guessand gets an early opportunity to prove he can star in the final stages of a European tournament without Aston Villa, thank you very much. And of course, we might see the man whose goal gave us our last Glasner thrill instant – Eddie Nketiah, who we haven’t seen since Clickbait told us he was being sold to West Ham. No doubt this south London boy would like to prove some people wrong.
And what’s going through Ollie’s head? At 300mph, problem, solution, problem, solution. In case he now has both eyes on his CV instead of Fiorentina, it’s worth remembering that it did look hotter a few months ago, much more desirable than it does now. So a high-profile good-news climax to Glasner’s Palace career now would come in handy.
Individual motivation seems assured, then…. but will a bunch of special individual displayss trigger two legs of team performances? All fingers crossed again, but the one feature that’s a glaring miss from Glasner’s portfolio of game plans is how to beat the bus parkers who now use what jargon calls a low block. If Fiorentina throw in a quick break…… perhaps that is a theme of modern football, with functionality preferred, but Palace are a club that thrives off unpredictability. It’s just not the real Palace when watching becomes a chore.
So, you see, it all takes us back to Ollie – much will ride on his game plan and team selection.
Moving from training ground to boardroom
We can’t forget that Silent Steve is now six months into his selection process for new head coach, time is running low, so we must trust and assume he has a star to reveal this summer. Even though the road has been bumpy now since October, whether we win or lose this next European tie, Glasner will still be the most successful and therefore hardest act to follow that we’ve ever had.
And, if we do beat Fiorentina, the intensity brought by that success will just ratchet up several notches. Staying humble comes naturally, so please Ollie, forgive the excitability that will be inevitable if we do reach the semis.
Unbelievably, bookies make Palace favourites to win the trophy
In view of recent performances, being hot favourites feels very uncomfortable. Just one view of course.
Anyway, the bookies rate Fiorentina the second strongest team in our half of the draw, so if we could win this next tie, possibilities might well open up, with a semifinal we can win, so we can reach the final. Then, if it is Strasbourg, we know them and we know we can beat them. We should have won the game there. So we know we can. Can Ollie sign off with a trophy in Leipzig? There are many steps between here and there, but it would bring an amazing chapter to a fitting close, plus it would provide an exciting platform for the newcomer.
Keeping it Palace.
