I think the thing is this: what do you do when your manager says he’s going to be leaving in October?
At that point, you’ve got to be concerned about the effect on the entire season, because you know that all the signings you make in January have to be for next season. They did back him in the summer by keeping Guehi.
But once he then tells them in October that he’s leaving, the whole dynamic changes. At that point, he's not necessarily going to get the players he wants in January, because the club has to start thinking beyond him. And honestly, I think that’s reasonable and fair.
Do you then hold on to Guehi, knowing that if he stays it could cost you about £20 million? That might benefit Glasner’s reputation, but it doesn’t necessarily benefit the club’s economy.
The minute your manager says in October that he’s leaving, your planning has to start for next season. Suddenly, it becomes a season of transition where you’re almost treading water.
At the end of the day, if you’d offered me this position 15 years ago, after Hillsborough, I’d have bitten your hand off. We’re in a better financial state than West Ham. We’re in a better financial state than Wolves. We’re in a better league position than both of those two combined. We’ve won an FA Cup, finished consistently away from the relegation places, and we’re about to potentially win a European trophy. And yet people still aren’t happy.
I do think Larsson and Johnson will turn out to be very good signings, and I don’t doubt that mistakes have been made. But the minute your manager says, “I’m off at the end of the season,” he can’t then complain when he’s not backed throughout it with big money.
At the end of the day, he’s made his hand clear. In which case, the club has to move on. Managers and chairmen are only custodians of the club, and the club has to think about the way it moves forward.
If the manager has already made it clear he’s going, then the club can’t just keep making short-term decisions purely to suit him. They’ve got to think about the next manager, the next system, and the financial position of the club.
Personally, I think Glasner did it entirely the wrong way at Xmas. He can’t really have any complaints about not being backed when he’s made it abundantly clear he’s not going to stay. It also fits the pattern of him previously that every chairman has faced in the cycle of working with him.
At the end of the day, Glasner is a one-trick pony. It’s a very successful trick, but I'm not exactly gutted he’s gone after two years, because I think year three could be when the rot sets in.
In terms of the system, it’s a little bit like Roy Hodgson. If the only tool in your arsenal is a hammer, meaning one formation, you’re going to start seeing every player as a nail, even when they’re not.
In terms of how his reputation has emerged from his time at Palace, I don’t think he did it any harm at all in the first 15 months. If anything, he probably enhanced it. But I’m not sure the final six months have done him many favours.
The telling thing for me is that no top clubs appear to be coming knocking. That tells you quite a lot. At the end of the day, I suspect he probably sees himself as being a bit above Crystal Palace as an organisation, and fair enough, managers back themselves. Confidence is part of the job.
But there is also a reason why a genuinely top club hasn’t come calling. If the elite clubs really saw him as that level of manager, someone would have moved for him by now. The fact they haven’t probably says that while he’s clearly a good coach, there are still doubts about whether he’s quite at that next level.
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