Oliver Glasner: Five facts about new Crystal Palace boss that every fan should know

Roy Hodgson stepped down on Monday as Crystal Palace boss to allow the club to "bring forward their plans to appoint a new manager at the end of the season".

But the need to bring forward plans that were only going to be made in the summer is because the club have suffered 10 defeats in their last 17 league games and were sleepwalking into a relegation scuffle. Unending injuries to Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and recently Marc Guehi has meant Hodgson had little chance of rescuing the precarious situation. 

Oliver Glasner has come in without Premier League experience, but more than makes up for it with having recently won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt and beating West Ham on their way too. 

So here are five exciting facts about the new Crystal Palace boss as he gets his fit under the table in south London. 

He overachieved at Eintracht Frankfurt

The selling point of Glasner's career is how he led Eintracht Frankfurt to an unexpected Europa League success in 2022 and impressively, his team beat Barcelona and West Ham United before seeing off Rangers for the trophy in the final. They lost to Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup and reached the last 16 of the Champions League. He also reached the German Cup final before leaving the club a year before his contract expired. 

He's incredibly meticulous 

One of the best compliments of one's job is always from his fellow professional and Glasner got that from then departing Eintracht Frankfurt manager and now coach of Wolfsburg Niko Kovac who described him as a meticulous manager who is structured and well-organised. 

Kovac told the BBC: "He's very structured, very well-organised, meticulous, observes the opposition very closely and prepares the team very well for them.

"He doesn't just let Eintracht run their boots off. He adjusts tactics and tries to simulate the opponent during the week in training.

"Oliver has transferred his ideas of football well to his team because he works methodically, because there's no chopping and changing."

One club man

The 49-year-old Austrian spent his entire playing career in his homeland with SV Ried. He had a short loan spell at LASK but three games meant he returned to where he knew the best. Making 516 appearances between 1992 to 2011 for Ried.

He's married with three children

The Austrian is big on family life and is married to his wife Bettina with whom they have three children. Julian, Niklas, and Alina Glasner. His wife Bettina is almost always at games and was even spotted sitting by him when he was serving a suspension, watching on from a VIP box in May 2023 in a 3-0 win for Frankfurt against Mainz.

Playing style 

Glasner is a modern manager whose strength is structure. His teams are organised and he loves to play with three central defenders. So three at the back or five at the back if not immediately but in the not-so-distant future. The job at Palace will be different in that he needs to get points on board as soon as possible, but it's interesting and can be challenging given how tough the Premier League is. One thing is certain, he's going to change the style of play.