On 30 May, Oliver Glasner celebrated 100 days at Palace, hopefully with a proper Austrian beer …… because it’s been brilliant! Not everyone at Slurst is speaking with an Austrian accent yet, but Glasner’s spirit is infectious. Winning is fun.
EUROS AND MORE
More Palace players than ever before are in the Euros and the Copa America. But what’s Gareth thinking? Before a ball is kicked anywhere, we evidently know two things he doesn’t:
- Michael Olise should be there with Ebere Eze for England. Southgate says it’s too late to do the paperwork, which takes two months. I say, why didn’t you start in February? You could see his rich talent. With Harry Kane, Eze and Olise up front with Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Declan Rice behind and Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer fresh off the bench, England would have won the tournament easily – even with Harry Maguire at the back!
- Tyrick Mitchell should be there too.
Did Gareth spend too much time nibbling the Valium-laced hospitality bananas?
PRE-SEASON: THE LONGEST STRONGEST EVER AT PALACE?
Glasner got here on 20 February. Since then, he’s operated an extended pre-season. Besides doing what new coaches do – getting to know players on and off the field, improving fitness, assessing our squad, deciding who stays and who goes, all before the normal pre-season kicks into overdrive – Glasner is exploiting a big bonus.
In this preparation for 2024/25, Glasner’s team played 13 matches with actual Premier League points at stake and, with 24 points won, we quickly picked up to a 70-points-a-season pace – even though Eze and Olise both started just 4 of those matches, which were all won, with a goal tally of 17 to 3. Put very simply, those games from February to May have added real premium value to being ready for 2024/25.
MONEY IN THE BANK
In fact, Glasner’s greed for late-season points won Palace part of a double windfall this month. Pushing Palace up to tenth jacked up the prize money by several million pounds, while every Premier League club will benefit by a further £5m or so because Leicester City and Southampton were promoted back first time, saving parachute payments.
SQUAD PLANS
From Glasner’s arrival to season’s end, we’ve seen prompt, decisive and publicly open decisions on players and contracts. Budgets are being spent, as clickbait reports Palace lining up new players. And the players we wanted to stay, have stayed! Jordan Ayew, Jeffrey Schlupp, Nathaniel Clyne, Will Hughes and Joel Ward were all invited back for another year, and all grabbed the chance. Let’s see what happens with Nathan Ferguson and Odsonne Edouard.
The centre back plan needs review. Jake O’Brien was sold to Lyon for £800,000 last summer, since then he’s become a star – he scored in the French Cup Final, when he was marking Kylian Mbappe, and Transfermarkt now estimate his value at £9m. We don’t want to see too many of those.
Two England keepers seem more than Palace need, although Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal have all needed two top class keepers to stay in the running to win the Premier League this year. But realism says, to help keep a smiling squad, we might have to cash in on one. If so, and because both keepers are so good, we should consider keeping the keeper who kicks highest and furthest from his hands. Here’s why.
By kicking long and very high, the keeper can create variety from playing out from the back. When Palace finished third in the top league in 1991, one feature of their play was the 60/70-meter kick from the goalkeeper. Nigel Martyn hoisted it very high, and – by the time the ball dropped out of the sky – several Palace players had had time to reach the scene, often winning the ball in the opponent’s half.
Maybe Glasner the Magic Man can help?!
THE PHILADELPHIA SUMMIT
On 1 May, Ollie gave the players a well-deserved break, so he and Steve Parish could shoot across to America for a bigwig confab with at least Harris and Blitzer. They met in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. We hope a plan for Palace was agreed, but what do we know?
We only know Steve and Ollie watched Harris and Blitzer watch their Philadelphia 76ers knocked out of the NBA playoffs, despite four of the owners buying over 2,000 away fan seats and handing tickets free of charge to deserving Philadelphia fans. Perhaps their team lost because the owners forgot to wear their lucky underpants? Or maybe because they were wearing the wrong colour – even billionaires must find it confusing when they own so many teams!
DON’T FOLLOW BRIGHTON’S EXAMPLE!
In the last two seasons, Brighton have shown us all what happens when a mid-table team sells its best players. Trossard, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Cucurella and the extraordinary Dan Burn all left, putting Brighton top of the Premier League table for profit – but below Palace for points!
How bad were Brighton this season? Well, just four months ago, Brighton were walking all over Palace and, by half time, their fans were probably thinking they’d not be playing Palace again any time soon. We did give Brighton four points in our games against them. So (in the other 36 games) Palace earned over 10% more points than Brighton. Even though, for six months, Palace’s season was pretty awful.
With super talents wanted by so many, will Palace’s owners make the same mistake as Brighton and cash in? Only time will tell. Although a sale or two may be needed to satisfy current profit and sustainability regulations, we hope that would at least allow some money for reinvestment in names from The Doog’s Red Hot & Blue List.
Given Ollie’s preferred formation, we have a screaming need for wing backs, as cover for Daniel Munoz and Tyrick Mitchell, and versatile players who can perform to the Glasner standard in more than one position – as Jefferson Lerma, Chris Richards and Nathaniel Clyne have already shown us.
For talented youngsters considering Palace, Slurst is shining a welcoming light on Palace’s proven path to a Premier League career without endless bench sitting.
THE GLASS PALACE
And then there’s the main stand redevelopment, what Palace calls “the final piece in the club’s strategic plan”. Despite the club’s fourth annual loss in a row, and Covid, and massive price increases in steel and concrete, and the lowest average crowd for a season at home for ten years, and the fact that the redeveloped Slurst won’t be ready until 2027, Palace continue to plan for this expansion, now priced at £150m or more.
Usually, in a project of this scope, all the finance will be in place before work can even begin. Refinancing can happen later, but the need to have the money in place unfortunately makes owners stop to think, especially when Palace have players who can be sold for very large sums. Selling one might pay half the cost of the building!
Alternatively, financing might emerge from the owners, old or new. With John Textor’s 45% stake in Palace up for sale and with past promises from the owners to provide the money to pay for redevelopment, the ownership situation and the stand financing currently both look fluid, to say the least.
The only certainty right now is, Palace’s debts and the share price are both heading in the same direction – up. Thanks largely to the well-spent Textor investment of 2021, both squad value and the club value are rising quickly. This adds to attractions for potential new investors, while making it easier for existing investors to stump up new money.
SO PALACE!
Just for a second, permit me….. did you see? That blur in red and blue, so memorable, Alexander (at least we got our money back) Sorloth just scored 4 goals in 17 minutes against Real Madrid! And he only lost La Liga’s Golden Boot to a last-minute penalty on the last day. Thank Ollie we have don’t have to be annoyed – we have Mateta! Glasner located and released the Cruyff lurking inside our current Number 14 and gave him the confidence to score goals with fierce strikes, often taken early! Thank you, Ollie.
EXCITING
For weeks now, Glasner and his hand-picked backroom team have been using this prolonged pre-season to build advantages for next season.
Opponents have quickly learned that Glasner’s Palace is a hard team to play against. Attack is suffocated, so there are fewer shots on goal. Stubborn Eagles defence loves to win the ball for lightning fast transition through swift forward releases.
And, when Wharton wins or receives the ball, he forms a slick base to a formidable quartet. Immediately ahead, he chooses from Olise and Eze, gifted options who slice open the heart of opposition defences like can openers. It’s rapid, it’s clinical and, before defenders can react, the ball rocks up at the suddenly masterful feet of Mateta. And he buries it. Alternatively in that build-up phase, at any instant, Olise or Eze might just fire into the net from distance. Because they can.
This truly is fun. Four months ago, that’s a sentence I couldn’t imagine ever writing for as long as I live. It’s a funny old game.
LUCKY
Palace are fortunate because Glasner is a driven man, and this prolonged pre-season looks like it’s his moment. His playing career having been ended early by life threatening illness, he obviously sees the significance of seizing his opportunity in the Premier League.
Last year, Glasner gave himself a few months’ mid-career breather. He knew the Palace job was his, so he planned for months – he studied the team from a distance. Now, from his fresh and rested brain, Glasner is pulling everything useful to Palace that he’s learned as a player, manager and fan.
He has slotted right in. He sounds like he loves what he’s doing. And he loves that his spoken English is so very good, sometimes he can’t stop talking.
THE NEW KLOPP?
Well, we are currently getting the heavy press from a young, fit and skilful team who each know their job very well, because the boss makes sure they do. His constant in-game coaching makes him Palace’s twelfth man.
The only time we’ve seen Glasner out-coached so far was at Fulham when – with Palace dominant – the wise old keeper Leno sat down, said he was injured and the game stopped for a few minutes. Fulham’s Marco Silva used the time for a full team talk, and the game was changed irrevocably. This was the only match in the last seven that Palace failed to win.
Glasner’s intensity is sheer delight for supporters who are so hungry. We all want our passion and desire to show up in the team, its results – and why not in its performances? And this prolonged pre-season is delivering! The team in all white at Slurst on the season’s closing day may have looked like Galacticos, but the team that played like Real Madrid in that 5-0 mauling was Crystal Palace.
DROWNING IN ANTICIPATION
Finally, Pudding Pete’s shouting that the Palace pre season started when Glasner signed on the bottom line! And he’s in such a frenzy, he just grabbed my laptop and wants to tell you what he heard …..
THE FUNNY WHITE LIGHT
The week Palace destroyed Villa 5-0, I overheard this parent chat in Eagle Eagles, I mean Doneagles:
“Dad, what’s that funny white light shining down on Slurst?”
“It’s called The Spotlight. Right now, all over the world, armchair football fans fancy following Crystal Palace, the way we all do, and right now, well, they all love us.”
“Why Dad? Why now?”
“Because of Ollie. And The Doog. And Eze. And Olise. And Wharton. And Guehi. And Andersen. And Mateta. And Mitch. And Steve. And ……”
“Whatever happened to Wilf, Dad? Wilf was all you ever talked about. If Wilf wasn’t fit…..”
“It’s all changed now. So remember this change forever. Hug this moment, love it. For as long as it lasts…..”
“The Spotlight never happens to Palace, does it, Dad? We love you, Ollie. Don’t we?”
Yes, all season the fans knew this team had buckets of potential. Now, Ollie is diligently unlocking it, and he’s doing it the Palace way. Hard, hard work, silky skills, pure passion and bursting commitment to this club, its community and its unique identity. When Munoz, Hughes or Mateta lead the press to grab possession, my heart beats faster.
Thank you, Ollie.
