JUST IN: What Crystal Palace fans should expect from Oliver Glasner in replaces of Roy Hodgson

Leader of Wolfsburg who has drawn comparisons to Ange Postecoglou is the most likely candidate to succeed Hodgson at Selhurst Park.

It looks like Roy Hodgson’s 61-year association with Crystal Palace will end amicably as he is expected to be fired as manager in the near future.

Hodgson returned to the squad for his first managerial assignment in 2017 after initially joining in 1963 as an academy player. Despite this, he never made an appearance for the first team. The 76-year-old departed the Selhurt Park dugout in 2021 to retire, but he later came back in 2023.

However, with the team sitting in 15th place and having only won three of their previous 19 games, supporters have turned against Hodgson and the Palace board, making change seem inevitable.

Oliver Glasner, the former manager of VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, is rumored to be Hodgson’s replacement. After leading Wolfsburg into the Champions League the previous season, the Austrian won the Europa League 2021–22 with Frankfurt.

According to reports, Glasner has been contacted by Palace to discuss his availability in order to appoint him in the upcoming weeks.

What can Palace supporters anticipate from Glasner, should he take over for Hodgson?

Who is Oliver Glasner?

A tenacious defender, Glasner spent his whole 19-year career with SV Ried, an Austrian second division team. He retired just under 37 years old, suffering a brain bleed following a head-on collision.

He was first employed as an executive management assistant to Ried’s honorary president, Peter Vogl, who was also the CEO of Red Bull Salzburg, having earned an MBA while participating in the sport. Through this relationship, Glasner was able to persuade Ralf Rangnick to appoint him to the position of assistant manager at RB Salzburg. He remained there for two years until coming back to Ried in May 2014 as head coach.

Despite his lackluster performance in the Austrian Bundesliga, Glasner’s one good year with Ried convinced ambitious LASK, a second-tier team, to appoint him as both manager and sporting director in 2015.

After leading LASK to the Europa League in 2018–19 and finishing second, only behind Salzburg, in 2019–20, Glasner earned a spot in the Champions League. He also won promotion to the top division in his second season with the team.

This subsequently persuaded Wolfsburg to venture a wager against the Austrian. Glasner helped the team secure a Champions League berth for the first time since 2015–16 in his two seasons there, finishing seventh and fourth, respectively.

After a disagreement over signings, Glasner joined Frankfurt, who had placed one spot worse than Wolfsburg the season before. His first eight games were losses, and a third-tier team eliminated him from the cup in the terrible months after his transfer.

Frankfurt, however, made quick progress, defeating Bayern Munich at the Allianz for the first time in twenty-one years and finishing sixth in the first half of the season. Die Adler went on to win the Europa League, defeating Rangers in the final on penalties, despite their inconsistent domestic performance throughout the remainder of 2021–2022.

Frankfurt went undefeated in the Europa League and even received high accolades from Xavi when they defeated his Barcelona team in the quarterfinals.

The former World Cup winner stated, “They play on the counter-attack and counter-press in a way I’ve only seen from a few teams in my career.”

In addition to placing seventh in the Bundesliga, Glasner led Frankfurt to the final of the DFB Pokal in 2022–2023 and the round of 16 in the Champions League. He then left at the end of that season in the midst of a disagreement over transfer spending, just like at Wolfsburg.

How would Glasner fit in at Crystal Palace?

To start, let’s address a common query regarding all foreign managers connected to the Premier League: Glasner speaks English well.

Although Thomas Frank’s counter-offensive mentality at Brentford is more like to his style of play, his football has recently been compared to Ange Postecoglou’s straight attacking approach at Spurs.

Teams led by Glasner are incredibly well-organized, press hard, and advance swiftly. He is renowned for his rather hands-off approach as a manager, trusting that his players would grow into any responsibility he assigns them and letting them pick up skills naturally.

Though it would be inaccurate to say he is not of the risk-taking Postecoglou stock, his tactical style would be more thrilling to watch and fluid than Hodgson’s current Palace squad.

But Glasner would probably be a well-liked early appointment because of his ability to uplift Selhurst Park and make Palace more watchable. He is renowned for getting the most out of players who attack.

Before he converted players like Daichi Kamada, Randal Kolo Muani, and Filip Kostic at Frankfurt, Wout Weghorst excelled under him at Wolfsburg, scoring 45 goals in 84 appearances.

Yet there are issues with Glasner’s potential arrival. At Wolfsburg, he publicly fell out with now-Liverpool sporting director Jorg Schmadtke, criticising the club’s transfer policy before leaving for Frankfurt at the end of the 2020-21 season, despite taking Wolfsburg into the Champions League. Schmadtke was also rumoured to have problems with the insularity of Glasner’s coaching group and the influence he wanted to exert on the club.

The Austrian then had similar problems at Frankfurt, leaving after two successful seasons amid reports of a strained relationship with sporting director Markus Kroesche, based on a lack of squad depth and access to signings he wanted.

At Palace, a club known for its relative frugality and current preference for stability over upwards mobility, these issues could arise once more in Glasner’s dealings with Dougie Freedman and Steve Parish.

Every year from 2017 to 2023, Glasner’s teams qualified for European football in some form. Since their promotion in 2013–14, Palace has placed between 10th and 15th in every Premier League season.

It seems like Glasner values trophies more than league standing, which will probably appeal to the club’s supporters more than the board. His cup runs at Frankfurt covered up poor league results in both seasons as he led a team that had placed fifth before his arrival to 11th and then seventh.

He is also known for slow starts after taking over clubs, something which could also be an issue at Palace given their current proximity to the relegation zone.