Times have changed quite a bit since the last time Crystal Palace played an away match in a European competition, although there are still some similarities to 1998. It was all smiles on Wednesday as Oliver Glasner and his squad boarded a private plane for their flight to Norway at Biggin Hill – the same airport that a Palace team managed by Terry Venables used for their trip to face the Turkish side Samsunspor in the Intertoto Cup.
That adventure, in a long-forgotten competition when Palace were the only English representatives to apply after being relegated two months earlier, proved fleeting. After a 2-0 defeat in the first leg at Selhurst Park in mid-July, only 27 Palace supporters attended another 2-0 loss on the south coast of the Black Sea six days later in conditions that had forced Venables to abandon a planned training session in the local park. “Terry got us in the shade and just went: ‘There’s no way we can do anything in this heat,’” the former defender Dean Austin said.
Almost 30 years later, Palace were denied a potential rematch with Samsunspor, who face Panathinaikos in a Europa League playoff on Thursday, after their demotion by Uefa for breaking its regulations on multiclub ownership. More than 1,700 supporters have made the pilgrimage this time, with another protest march against Uefa scheduled before the second leg of their Conference League playoff against Fredrikstad, another coastal town, 90 kilometres from Oslo.
Chelsea are believed to have earned £15m by winning the competition last season so Glasner will know how important it is to finish the job after a 1-0 victory in the first leg and he made sure his players were able to train on the artificial surface on which the game will be played.
“It makes no sense complaining about it,” he said. “We never thought this would happen, and now it happened. So we should enjoy this beautiful country, a nice game, and hopefully going away with a win.”
Having joked after the first leg that he might need to bring his boots to Norway should Marc Guéhi follow Eberechi Eze out of the door before then, he will be relieved that the England defender is poised to captain the side in what could be his last appearance for Palace.
It has been another exhausting start to the season for Glasner, who was spotted enjoying a round of crazy golf in Battersea Park with his family on Tuesday before preparing to face a Fredrikstad team who were given the weekend off in their domestic league. The Austrian has made no secret of his dissatisfaction that, with his players facing the challenge of competing in four competitions, Palace have repeated the same mistakes as last summer in the transfer market.
Uncertainty over which European competition they were playing in may partly excuse the fact they have spent less than any other club in Europe’s top four leagues. Yet Glasner was clearly expecting more early additions after signing four players on deadline day last August. He is believed to have indicated he is not willing to resume discussions over extending his contract – which, like Guéhi’s, expires next year – until at least after the window has closed.
Palace negotiated a fee that could reach £67.5m from Arsenal for Eze, and Glasner will not be satisfied by only the arrival of Yeremy Pino from Villarreal after a deal worth up to £26m was agreed for the 22-year-old Spain forward. There is also interest in Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson and in bringing Conor Gallagher back after his successful loan under Patrick Vieira in 2021-22, although Atlético Madrid would prefer a sale.
Glasner said after the Forest game that without the 14 goals and 12 assists that Eze contributed last season, Palace may struggle. “It’s pretty clear you need to replace him with a starter,” he said. “This is what we are looking for. I’m pretty sure we will find the right one. Or we will get the right one done, let’s say it more like this. Because we already found the right one.”
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Christos Tzolis, the Greek forward whom Club Brugge have been reluctant to sell and are thought to value at about £35m, is believed to be Glasner’s preferred target. The question is how far the Palace chair, Steve Parish, and the club’s new biggest shareholder, Woody Johnson, back the manager who led Palace to their first major trophy. Johnson, the American billionaire who owns the New York Jets, was at Selhurst Park on Sunday for the first time since buying John Textor’s 44.9% stake for £190m but he is not expected to inject extra capital at this stage.
The former Wolves sporting director Matt Hobbs is waiting to be confirmed in a similar role to replace Dougie Freedman and is understood to have started working on Palace’s recruitment plans, along with Freedman’s former assistant Ben Stevens and the consultant Iain Moody. They face a scramble for last-minute deals, while Parish waits to see whether Liverpool match their £40m valuation for Guéhi and desperately hopes Real Madrid do not follow up their growing interest in the midfielder Adam Wharton with an offer.
For now Parish and Glasner are focused on navigating a way past Fredrikstad, but the following days could prove crucial to Palace’s prospects of holding on to a manager who is coveted elsewhere.
