Smart, independent and in demand: would Oliver Glasner be a good fit for Manchester United?

An unknown is whether Glasner's counter-pressing approach could work at a club where his team would be expected to have more possession.

Manchester United are not the only ones who could have Glasner in their sights this summer. Pic: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire.

Oliver Glasner has shown a penchant for one-liners, as well a 3-4-2-1 formation, since he took over at Crystal Palace almost two years ago. The Austrian declared he was “not David Copperfield” in his first press conference and usually has a saying for whatever situation Palace are in, such as declaring they must not be “one-hit wonders” after winning the FA Cup.

It was therefore no surprise to find Glasner had come prepared when he played a straight bat to questions about his future this week after Ruben Amorim’s sacking by Manchester United. “I’m not allowed to bet,” he said when asked to comment on the fact he is the bookmakers’ favourite to take over at Old Trafford in the summer.

Much more revealing given the circumstances behind Amorim’s departure was Glasner’s answer to a question about whether there is any real difference between being a manager or head coach. “Every successful company is a discussion,” he said. “If you have smart people there, and every club I believe has smart people – we definitely have here – and then you have your own opinion, and you don’t need to always say: ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ 

“If it’s just yes men you’re not successful. It would be, from my perspective, stupid if I didn’t use the experience and the knowledge of the players, if I didn’t use the experience and knowledge of a sporting director, of a chairman, of a scouting director, of a doctor, of a fitness coach.”

It is unlikely that was intended as a message to United’s hierarchy, although it will surely have gone down well with Jason Wilcox and co. Yet they are not the only ones who could have Glasner in their sights this summer, when his contract is due to expire, with Tottenham and Bayern Munich among those believed to be keeping tabs.

Siegmund Gruber, the chief executive of the Austrian club Lask, where Glasner spent four years before joining Eintracht Frankfurt, said in May that several “big clubs” had been asking how to contact the coach even before Palace’s victory over Manchester City at Wembley sealed their first major trophy.

“I’ve said: ‘OK, but prepare yourself for the meeting. Because Oliver will have questions – not some, I will say a lot!’” Gruber said. “He is much smarter than a coach who comes in and just does a presentation on how his team will play. And I’m quite sure that won’t change with the bigger clubs.”

Glasner said this week he expected to make a decision about whether to extend his stay at Palace after more talks in the coming weeks with the chair, Steve Parish, but there is a growing feeling this could be his last season there. Bayern were interested in 2024 before they decided to appoint Vincent Kompany and Palace first tried to persuade Glasner to sign a new deal last March after RB Leipzig showed interest.

They tried again in the summer but Glasner was reluctant to commit beyond the end of this season, when Palace hope to add the Conference League trophy to a cabinet that also contains the Community Shield. His admission this week that his future will not depend on what happens in the transfer window is a departure from criticism of Palace’s failure to provide him with enough reinforcements for their debut campaign in Europe and could be a hint at what comes next.

“I would say everyone in Austria is expecting him to leave and they are excited to see him at a really big club,” says Andreas Heidenreich, the sports editor of the Austrian newspaper Kurier. 

“Glasner has been successful wherever he has gone but he didn’t coach an absolutely top club like Bayern or Manchester United. That’s the only thing missing in his coaching career and that’s what the Austrians want to see: if he can do it in a big club as well.” 

Glasner cut his teeth as a coach at Red Bull Salzburg under Ralf Rangnick, who is credited with convincing him to become a manager. Glasner sounded out Rangnick – who has been in charge of Austria’s men’s team since he left United in 2022 after winning 11 of his 29 matches – before joining Palace and will no doubt seek more advice should Old Trafford come calling. 

The unknown is whether his counter-pressing approach, so successful at Eintracht and Palace, could work at a club where Glasner’s team would be expected to have more possession. Palace have an average of 43.1% possession this season compared with Manchester United’s 54%.

“His approach was always based on being without the ball – a lot of pressing,” says Heidenreich. “So it would be a big change from Amorim to Oliver Glasner; it’s definitely another style of football. That’s the point. Glasner suits a smaller club perfectly. That is what we all know because we have seen it in several clubs where he has been coach. So that is the only question not to be answered so far. Can Glasner coach a club where they have around 60% ball possession in every match?”

Guardian