Oliver Glasner quietly entered the media building at Crystal Palace’s training ground, a few minutes late for his scheduled press conference ahead of the away game against Sunderland in the Premier League.

Within minutes, he was unleashing a flurry of bombshell statements. News was communicated quickly but in a very relaxed manner. Captain Mark Guehi was on the verge of leaving, he said. Will it affect his own future? The answer was no… because he had made his decision and was leaving in the summer in search of a “new challenge”.

Perhaps the results were not surprising. The noise emanating from the club over the past few months has paved the way for this, but the timing and manner of the approval still came as a shock.

Within a minute, Glasner confirmed that Gehi would not be part of the squad heading to Sunderland as he was in the final stages of completing the transfer. He is close to joining Manchester City.

He had little time to process the news, but he gave no indication he had any intention of doing so, adding that he would leave at the end of the season. I informed Chairman Steve Parrish of this fact several months ago.

There was a sense of shock in the room that the news was broken this way. An impulsive and emotional decision to go public. The club’s website did not publish the news and only mentioned the team’s injury situation as if nothing had happened.

Some members of the club’s staff learned of this fact at the same time that Coach Glasner had told his players during a pre-training team meeting that they would not sign new contracts even after their existing contracts expired.

It capped off one of the most shocking weeks in Palace’s history, perhaps only overshadowed by May’s FA Cup win or the Palace regime. It gave the impression that the club was in crisis. This was not how they wanted this glorious chapter to end.

Palace captain Mark Guehi lifts the FA Cup at Wembley in May 2025 (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Palace lost their captain, and arguably the greatest defender of all time, and within minutes it was revealed that the manager was destined for disaster, as expected. There were then strong indications that striker Jean-Philippe Mateta could leave.

Palace are now without a win in nine games in all competitions, and less than a week ago they suffered the humiliation of being eliminated in the FA Cup by non-league side Macclesfield. A series of injuries to key players caused the team’s strength to decline.

Even if he insists that clarity is paramount, Glassner’s decision to announce his resignation now could have unintended consequences. It was far from the best preparation for the trip to Sunderland, with the team departing immediately after the press conference.

The Austrian’s openness was a refreshing change after months of dodging the question, and he clarified that he had not had time to discuss his future, even though he had told Mr Parrish over dinner during his international break in October. He said he had no plans to report to the team on Friday and only made the call after receiving word that Gehi was likely to leave.

He is outwardly emotional and rarely suppresses his true feelings, and he said this decision not to renew his contract came from a gut feeling. It was formally established through conversations with friends and family. Only then could raw emotions be replaced by rational processes.

But still, this outcome had seemed likely for some time, including in the palace hierarchy. Glasner said in October that the club needed to improve in all aspects and that he would only stay if their stance on progress matched his.

Parish said after the FA Cup final victory that the club needed to live up to his manager’s ambitions. While Glassner may have reiterated that everything he says is a recommendation and not a personal request, there is no doubt that the two are symbiotic.

Glassner says he informed Steve Parish of his decision to leave Palace in October (Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)

At Eintracht Frankfurt, he left after two years as the Bundesliga side failed to fulfill his ambitions of winning the Europa League. In front of the media, there was a lot of abuse going around, suggesting that the transfer was a failure. History has repeated itself. He was disappointed with some mistakes at Palace in the summer transfer window, but he also showed a degree of naivety about what was possible within the framework of the reinforcement policy, something he noticed on arrival.

Both announcements came at inopportune times. But Palace will have to find a way to stay afloat and will probably have enough cover to do so, even if it will be next to impossible to find a replacement close to Guehi’s level by the end of the January period. It’s true, as Glasner said, that players don’t just sign with managers, but this is far from ideal for Palace’s prospects of convincing transfer targets to join.

All this leads to the summer transfer window being the most important in their recent history. How can they properly replace Glasner? Previous attempts to transition from fire management, including hiring Frank de Boer in 2017 and Patrick Vieira in 2021, have failed miserably.

This was a great success, but it is very difficult to replicate. The recruiting department has also been in a state of flux since former athletic director Dougie Friedman stepped down and was replaced by Matt Hobbs on a short-term contract.

As for Mateta, Glasner gave little reassurance that the striker would stick around beyond the summer. Midfielder Adam Wharton will also be wanted in the next transfer window. These are issues that Palace must overcome, all the while looking for a new manager who can manage to replicate the success they achieved under Glasner, the man who achieved the feat of taking Palace to their first major trophy, their first trip to Europe and then winning the Community Shield.

We have to find a way to rebuild it again, rotating many plates. A season that promised so much seems to be coming to an end.

Glasner during Crystal Palace’s defeat to Newcastle (George Wood/Getty Images)

But despite the understandable disappointment, there are still reasons to be hopeful about the future.

They still have a team with talented players, added a record contract with Brennan Johnson this window, retain some control over the future of other players, and still have time to improve the team before the window closes. Off the pitch, the long-delayed redevelopment of Selhurst Park is finally set to begin in earnest.

An hour before the news broke, Palace had drawn with Bosnian side HSK Zrinjski Mostar in the UEFA Conference League. The Round of 32 play-off game will be their first three-game week in more than a month and provide a much-needed opportunity for a full training session, while Daichi Kamata is on track to return from injury, Daniel Muñoz is expected to return for next week’s game against Chelsea and Ismaila Sarr will also be available after the African Cup of Nations.

Glasner said he was committed to winning the conference league and leading Palace to the highest points in the Premier League. If his words and actions match, he hasn’t checked out yet.

Still, this will be the biggest challenge of the diocese’s 16-year term. He will need to draw on his experience in overcoming crises. Palace have been through an even worse situation and must believe they can find a way to emerge without capitulating.