Crystal Palace ended weeks of suspense on 19 February 2024 by naming Austrian coach Oliver Glasner as successor to Roy Hodgson, handing him a deal through June 2026. The 49‑year‑old brought a glittering résumé: a Europa League crown with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022 and Champions League qualification with Wolfsburg. Chairman Steve Parish hailed Glasner’s tactical daring and player‑development skills. The coach imported assistants Michael Angerschmid and Patrick Ziegler while retaining club icon Paddy McCarthy to preserve institutional knowledge.
Double sessions focused on positional play, nutrition workshops and one‑on‑one video reviews revitalised a squad that had slipped toward the drop zone. His debut yielded a 3‑0 win over Burnley, and by April Palace had soared from 17th to 12th while marching to the FA Cup quarters, winning sceptics over. Glasner’s willingness to trust youth saw debuts for Joe Sheridan and Adedire Mebude, and a collaborative relationship with sporting director Dougie Freedman defined a recruitment profile of versatility, work‑rate and tactical intelligence. Fifteen months later Palace boast a club‑record points haul, a cup final and genuine European ambitions, vindicating Parish’s daring hire and repositioning Palace as one of the league’s most progressive outfits.
