The making of Glasner: Q&A with Eagles' manager

Speaking to the High Performance Podcast, Glasner discussed his coaching philosophy, and how he has navigated challenges since first arriving in England...

Q: When you first joined Crystal Palace – it was mid-season – what kind of challenges did that present?

A: Every coach has his own idea of how the team should play. I think there's never a right or wrong. It's just your ideas and getting them across. The most important aspect is that you can transfer it into the minds of the players because they have to execute it on the pitch.

They must know what to do. But when they always have to think about what they have to do, that can make you slow. You want them to find solutions automatically where they don't have to think, where they're just reacting naturally on the different situations.

We needed time to train together. We needed time to get to know each other. We have to build a group.

When you first enter a company, you don't know the employees; you can’t just click your fingers and everything works. This just takes time. to be honest, last season, I didn't expect it to start working that well so quickly.

Q: What was your message to the players when you first arrived at Palace?

A: It was not to rush in and say ‘from here we change everything.’

There were many good and positive things already here. And also adjust the things we want to improve, but step by step. We also had many injured players, so it was also not to overload them.

And then we decided, okay let’s give them a maximum of one message per week, in terms of what we want to change, it's not too much. If we give too many messages, then we are in a situation where the players start to think, what should I do? What do I have to do? This makes you slow – and we can't afford to be slow in a game.

I have a few, I would describe them as non-negotiables. And this is, that the team is number one.

I like and love all the egos we have in the team. And we need all the egos, but we all need the egos for the team. The first message from me was to say that, I accept every mistake. It's no problem. We are human beings. We make so many mistakes. It's no problem. But if somebody does something against the team, he's out.

This is the only non-negotiable thing we have. We have great characters. We have great egos, but they use their egos for the good of the wider team.

We want to see their strengths because I believe if somebody always tells you that you must do something you can't do, you lose a lot of confidence.

For example, if you told me, ‘Oliver, sing’ I lose a lot of confidence because I can't sing! And it's the same with the players.

So, we try to make it possible for the players play in positions where they can show their strengths, where they can express themselves, and have confidence in what they're doing.

We are always accepting that they can make some mistakes, that they can make wrong decisions, because this is also part of the game.

Q: Where did you learn the idea that the team comes first?

A: I think I'm a very social guy. It’s about the community.

If we support each other, we have a better life. I’ve always been someone who is pleased when my neighbour is successful. It's the same here in football.

Maybe because I played my entire career for a small Austrian club [SV Ried], where we would win the Austrian Cup twice – it was a massive achievement.

But what I saw there is that when you work together and have great spirit in the group. We can achieve more than our individual qualities would suggest.

I think it’s the biggest difference between team and individual sports. In individual sports mostly the best individual wins – but in team sports, you can often win without necessarily the best individual players, it is possible.

I wanted to create an environment to ensure that. The training grounds here in England are often quite closed. So I told everybody – not just the players – but the staff as well, that when we enter this training ground, I want everybody to be themselves.

As human beings I think we’re at our best when we can be ourselves. In terms of the players, we have to know the people, not just what they do as a footballer. Because 25 or so individuals coming from different environments, growing up in different areas, from different part of the worlds, different religions, cultures, ages – everyone is unique.

Fitting these people together, it’s like a puzzle and I think this is the most exciting part of being a manager.

Q: How do you work with the players on ensuring a healthy mentality?

A: I think it's a culture of how we deal with each other. If somebody makes a mistake, do I blame him and say, ‘come on, what's the matter with you?’ No.

If somebody makes a mistake I like to say, ‘keep going, get it next time’ We all have a choice to see things in a more positive way, or a more negative way.

And I believe, and you have this in football, in sports, in all walks of life, you are faced with these situations weekly, daily. I just believe that life is better and more successful and more enjoyable if you see it in a positive way.

For example, we missed two penalties in-a-row. We could be upset, but my feeling was – ‘ok, we accept it.’ We were not pleased with the situation, but we could see the effort.

As a group we say, it didn’t work, but next time it will. Otherwise, you can go into a spiral downwards and then it's very difficult to get the turnaround again.

This influences the players massively. When they always feel supported, they don’t get into that negative spiral. And players can be so self-critical, they blame themselves for their mistakes.

Q: Following the FA Cup Final win, how important has the connection with the fans proven to be over the last season?

A: Two years ago, the team I played for met up, 25 years on from when we won the cup in Austria.

This connection stays forever, the connection with these players, with the players, with Crystal Palace, will stay forever, and I'm pretty sure if, for example, Jean-Philippe Mateta watches a game in 30 years at Selhurst, the fans will celebrate him and he deserves it.

It will be the same with all the other players, and so yes, it's massive what everyone did for the club, and this was special motivation for us, we wanted to write history.

I think now we wrote a really big chapter in club history, and next year we will start to write a new chapter.

It will be the first time playing in Europe, and let's see…

Q: What’s your wider goal for Crystal Palace?

A: My goal is that we always try to improve. Because this is about creating a learning environment – not just improving as a football player, but developing as a human being.

As I’ve said, you can learn so much from a football dressing room. You always can learn from it, improving.

And also enjoying the time we have together, creating moments that we all want in life. This is the biggest enjoyment I take from being a football player or a manager.

These moments are special. I never look at my Europa league medal [from 2022] anymore. It's not important.

But earlier this season when my former club Frankfurt played against Tottenham in London, I visited them at the hotel, saw some of the members of the staff, some players and we spoke about this time.

We were all having a smile and enjoying this time, because these memories, these emotions. This is what lasts forever.