Oliver Glasner has hit out at the Crystal Palace hierarchy after it was revealed to him the day before their match at Sunderland that captain Marc Guehi would be sold.
In an explosive pre-match press conference, Glasner said that Guehi would not feature at the Stadium of Light as he was set to leave the club. He is set to join Manchester City, where a £20m move is edging closer.
The Austrian then added he would not be renewing his contract at Selhurst Park and would leave at the end of the season. He cited a want for a ‘new challenge’, but his comments after their 2-1 defeat to Sunderland revealed that the issues may run deeper than previously thought.
Glasner did not make a substitution during the Premier League loss – taking the Eagles’ winless run to ten games in all competitions – and said he was told at 10.30am on Friday that Guehi would be departing.
He explained to Sky Sports: “I think the players gave everything they could. We made no substitutions, look at the bench, there are just kids there.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
In his pre-Sunderland press conference, Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner provided an update on the future of captain Marc Guehi
“We feel like we’re being abandoned completely. Selling our captain one day before a game – there is no understanding for this.
“We are preparing and then yesterday [Friday], I get told that our captain will be sold, but why not next week? At least he can play this game and then next week, other players are coming back. It makes me really upset.
“If your heart gets ripped out twice a year, with [Eberechi] Eze one day before a game in the summer and your captain one day before a game – I’ve just got no understanding.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Highlights from the Premier League clash between Sunderland and Crystal Palace
“I’ve been in football for 30 years and never experienced this, not once. Now it happens twice in six or seven months. That’s just where we are now.
“We’re playing for weeks now with just 12 or 13 players in our squad. Some players have played their 35th game now.
“For 50 or 60 minutes, we played well here and for 15 or 20 minutes, we were under pressure and conceded the goal. The players tried everything but again, I couldn’t give them any support from the bench and it makes it so tough.
“The players left their hearts on the pitch, were fighting. It’s not too easy to play here and for all the circumstances, the team has done exceptionally well. But again, we don’t feel supported.
“I heard yesterday at 10.30am for the first time that we were selling Marc. I think the negotiations were a few days long so nobody would have called at 10am and by 10.30am, everything was agreed.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner revealed that he will leave the club at the end of the season after declining to sign a new contract
“Then we have to deal with it. One day before a game, we have to come to Sunderland, when we know we’re not on the best run. We know the circumstances with no players available and we’re selling our captain.
“No team would do this. Other teams, the players play and then the next day, they’re leaving and we are selling the day before?”
When asked if he will see the season out, Glasner gave a defiant response: “I don’t know. I always have a huge appreciation for this group of players.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Paul Merson questions Oliver Glasner’s timing of his announcement that he will be leaving Crystal Palace at the end of the season
“I completely trust them. Their character is exceptional and we will stick together and turn around. I will never step back because these players deserve Oliver Glasner as their manager and leader and this is what I will do.
“Sometimes it would help if we had a little bit of support.”
‘I need to protect my players – it might be with me or another manager, I don’t care’
Glasner continued his outburst in his post-Sunderland press conference, explaining more on how the hierarchy appear to be approaching Crystal Palace’s season.
He explained: “For me, it feels like ‘oh we have enough points so we won’t get relegated and that’s fine’. But these players are not happy and satisfied with this. That makes it tough tonight.
“If Crystal Palace are fine ending the season like this, with Oliver Glasner with another manager, I don’t know, I don’t care but if they are fine with this then OK, they can do it.
“If they want to play a more successful season… for me, it feels like ‘when all the players are back, we’ll be OK, we’ll get 42 points, it’s all good’, but that isn’t how we are acting. It’s just my feeling.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Tim Sherwood believes Oliver Glasner’s decision to hit out at the Crystal Palace hierarchy is an act of ‘self-preservation’.
“To protect them, I also have to say it in public because just saying it behind closed doors doesn’t make sense.”
Glasner also gave a hint that his comments were a final roll of the dice to try and improve the squad situation, adding: “It’s maybe the last try that things get done that have to get done. Not for Oliver Glasner, it’s for Crystal Palace.
“The best four players before we arrived – [Michael] Olise, [Eberechi] Eze and the two centre-backs, [Joachim] Andersen and [Marc] Guehi – they have gone now. It’s tough for every club.
“And then to think ‘OK, we sold last year and they got it done, had the best season, won the FA Cup, it’s all good. We can continue doing it like this’, you will get the bill.
“Oliver Glasner won’t get the bill, Crystal Palace will get it. If you’re fine with it, continue.”
Sherwood: Glasner wants out now
Tim Sherwood on Soccer Saturday:
“When your manager says he is leaving, how does that feel for the squad? It works both ways. It’s self preservation. Now they are losing games.
“When he takes the Palace job, he knows what he is going into. You develop players and you sell them on. That is a selling club.
“He wants to leave that club as quickly as possible. He wants out of the club and he wants out now.”
