Oliver Glasner hits out at board over sale of key players and lack of signings
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has publicly slammed the board for failing to “support” the team, in reference to the club selling captain Marc Guehi this January, after selling Eberechi Eze to Arsenal last summer.
Palace lost 2-1 to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday despite first taking the lead. Glasner said he felt awful he couldn’t make a single substitution with “just kids” on the bench.
“We played quite well and I think my players left their hearts on the pitch but I couldn’t support them from the bench,” said Glasner.
“We feel that we’re being abandoned. There’s no support. Everybody’s disappointed. We’ve been playing with 12 to 13 players for weeks now. On the bench I had just kids. They had never played in a stadium with an atmosphere like this.
“Why I’m saying this is not to protect myself but to protect them. They need protecting. I made no substitutions because it would have been unfair. I see them in training every day. That’s where we are. The players need support.”
Regarding impending Guehi’s sale to Manchester City, and Eze’s to Arsenal last summer, Glasner said: “Your heart gets torn out twice in a season, one day before a game. It’s tough to survive. That’s how it feels like right now.”
He continued: “We’ve known we’re in this situation for weeks, for months now. What are we doing? We’re selling our captain one day before a game. The first time I heard about it was 10.30am yesterday. All the set pieces, everything was prepared for Guehi playing.
“Then, we had to change everything. Nobody told us. So then I have to stand in front of the group and tell them, ‘Oh, the captain doesn’t play tomorrow’.
“I think the players did well in the circumstances. I’m so direct today because I feel I have to protect them.”
The last two managers who criticised the club’s board in public this month, first Enzo Maresca at Chelsea and then Ruben Amorim at Manchester United, both got fired within a week.
Glasner said: “To protect [my players] I have to say this in public. Saying these things behind closed doors makes no sense. And this is maybe the last try to get things done that have to get done. And, if we continue doing this, Crystal Palace, not Oliver Glasner will get the bill. If you’re fine with that continue.”
