Oliver Glasner says he feels “abandoned” by Crystal Palace’s owners and has refused to guarantee he will stay at the club until the end of the season.
The Palace manager announced yesterday that he would be leaving Selhurst Park at the end of his contract in June, shortly after confirming that captain Marc Guehi was departing for Manchester City.
Speaking after Palace’s 2-1 defeat at Sunderland, Glasner issued a stinging attack on his employers’ decision to sell Guehi so close to a match, saying that he had only been informed of the sale at 10.30am on Friday.
The Austrian also highlighted Palace’s sale of Eberechi Eze to Arsenal in August, shortly before the club was due to play Fredrikstad in a UEFA Conference League tie.
“Selling our captain one day before a game, (I have) completely no understanding for this,” he told Sky Sports. “We are preparing, and then yesterday at 10.30am, I’m told our captain will be sold. So why not next week? Then we can play at least this game. It makes me really upset today.
“If your heart gets torn out twice a year, with Eze, one day before a game in the summer, and your captain one day before a game. I don’t understand it. I’ve been in football now more than 30 years and I’ve not experienced this not even once. Now it’s happened twice within six or seven months.”
Glasner did not make a substitution in the defeat at Sunderland, having named three academy players among his replacements.
“We have been playing for weeks now with 12 or 13 players in our squad,” he added. “Some players have just played their 35th game. We played 50-60 minutes really well, and then 20 minutes we were under pressure and conceded the goal. The players gave everything they could but, again, I couldn’t give them any support from the bench.
“You’ve seen we have made no substitutions. Look at the bench – just kids there in our attack. I’ve said before, we feel we are being abandoned completely.”
Crystal Palace sold Eberechi Eze (left) to Arsenal in August and look set to sell captain March Guehi (right) to Manchester City. (Photo: GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
When asked whether he would see the season out in south London, Glasner replied: “I don’t know. I have a huge appreciation for this group of players. I completely trust them. Their character is exceptional.
“We will stick together and get this turnaround. I will never step back because these players deserve Oliver Glasner as their manager and as their leader. And this is what I will do. But, again, sometimes it would help if we had a little bit of support.”
Later, speaking to journalists in his post-match press conference, Glasner added: “If Crystal Palace is fine to end the season like this with Oliver Glasner or with another manager I don’t know, I don’t care.”
Palace’s defeat to Sunderland means they have now failed to win any of their last 10 matches as the club have struggled to cope with a demanding fixture schedule. They have made just one signing this month, Brennan Johnson in a £35million deal from Tottenham.
“We know we’re not in the best run,” Glasner told Sky. “We know the circumstances. We don’t have players available and we’re selling our captain. I completely don’t understand this. With other teams, players play and the next day they are leaving. And we are selling the day before?”