FootBiz newsletter #135: Glasner-Palace situation underlines the balancing act for Premier League's middle class

Back to the grind, then, after a weekend when we got clarity (and then a whole lot of murkiness once more) on the Oliver Glasner situation at Crystal Palace, with the Austrian finally confirming his eventual departure.

When exactly he leaves is still to be confirmed, however. His contract expires in the summer, which we all knew, and he will not be signing a new contract, which we all felt was fairly clear but didn’t know for sure.

On Friday, Glasner revealed that he had told chairman Steve Parish all the way back in October that he wouldn’t be extending his deal and wanted a “new challenge” but they decided to reveal his decision this week, after months of dodging regular questions about his future, because of Marc Guehi’s impending sale to Manchester City.

The fear with not announcing it on Friday was that people would erroneously link Guehi’s sale to Glasner’s decision to walk away from Palace, which might not be the case if you’re being really specific but given his near-constant public complaints about Palace’s transfer activity — not just the volume but also the speed and/or timing of moves — Guehi’s sale to Man City still forms a key part of what the Austrian has been chuntering about non-stop for more than a year (despite his claim that he had “kept his mouth shut”).

When he finally 🙄 opened his mouth after Saturday’s defeat at Sunderland, it had all the appearances of a man who, having announced the day before that he'd not be extending his contract, had very little intention of seeing it out either.

"I feel we are being abandoned completely," he told the BBC.

"We have 12, 13 players from the squad available and we feel no support.”

It would have surprised nobody if Sunday had brought news of Glasner’s departure, replicating the success-to-rancour tale that has followed him wherever he has coached.

“At Eintracht Frankfurt, he left after two years, with the Bundesliga side having failed to meet his ambitions to build on winning the Europa League,” wrote Matt Woosnam in The Athletic.

“There had been rants in front of the media over perceived transfer failings. History has repeated itself.”

But not quite yet.

While many had expected Palace to axe Glasner overnight after all that, instead they briefed media on Sunday that he would be staying after clear-the-air talks with the club.

“Palace’s sporting director Matt Hobbs held talks with Glasner which were described by sources with knowledge of the situation as conciliatory,” reported David Ornstein.

“Chairman Steve Parish has not been directly involved in the discussions so far.”

Not long ago, that Parish-Glasner relationship was the most important at the club. Now they’re not even talking to decide the coach’s future?

One can only assume that Parish is already working on a replacement, while also trying to navigate the January transfer window, a task made more difficult by Glasner’s outbursts.

But that’s how far we’ve come in the last few days. That’s how much things have changed.

Last week, Palace fans could still dream of a Glasner extension, a European trophy and glory in the best squad they’ve ever had.

This week, it’s working out who the next manager is going to be and which players he’ll be coaching.

And reality for a club like Palace is that it is this week that’s the norm.

If Palace hire a good coach, he won’t be there for too long; if they sign a good player, he won’t be there for too long either. That’s just modern football, it’s not unique to the Eagles, and the key is to get as much juice as you can from coaches and players while they’re with you, make a rational financial decision about when is best to let them leave, and hope that your processes are good enough to keep the cycle going.

Having spent much of the last decade since promotion hopping from firefighter to project manager and back again, Palace finally began to build a longer-term strategy in recent seasons and the transfer flywheel (buy low, develop, sell, re-invest) has finally got going with Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and now Marc Guehi generating huge profits for the south Londoners with others to come.

The key is how you replace them.

That Palace’s immediate future depends on how they replace Guehi, or Adam Wharton, or Jean-Philippe Mateta, or Daniel Muñoz is not really news. That’s the mid-table Premier League club life.

And the same applies to coaches.

In Glasner, Palace truly struck gold. They won two major trophies, most memorably beating Manchester City to the FA Cup last May, and went on the longest unbeaten run in their history. At times the football was joyous and the players were “the most likeable group we’ve ever had” according to one employee.

While the next coach may have the toughest act to follow of any in the club’s history, it will still be a desirable job.

The danger for a club like Palace, as much of a barrier as they appear to have built over the carousel of teams that disappear and then re-appear from the Championship, is that a bad season or two can suddenly put you straight back there. Bigger, richer clubs than Palace have been mid-table regulars only to slip back down to the EFL.

It’s why Parish was right to focus on long-term squad-building rather than buckling to his coach’s demands. Clubs in the transient middle can’t afford to build themselves around coaches. Even brilliant ones aren’t a substitute for a proper structure.

While the crescendo of Glasner’s recent outbursts has now brought some unwanted attention on the situation, this is just life for the Premier League’s middle class in 2026.

And with the new financial rules they’re imposing, that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

Table of Contents

• Wild AFCON final leads to fallout

• DOGSO under review

• Infantino jets to Davos

• INEOS cut Nice asking price

• Arsenal top Deloitte Money League

• IFR hires three advisors

• WSL cut Stonewall ties

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