Roy Hodgson departs as Crystal Palace hire Oliver Glasner

Roy Hodgson’s second spell in charge of Crystal Palace is coming to a premature end, with the 76-year-old departing the Eagles almost 11 months after he returned to help them survive relegation.

Former Eintracht Frankfurt boss Oliver Glasner is set to replace the Englishman, and will be tasked with bringing stability to a rocky season for the South London club.

Hodgson had an immediate impact upon his appointment to replace Patrick Vieira last March, ending a 13-match winless run in his first game and pulling them well clear of the drop zone, with five wins and three draws from 10 games seeing them end the season in 11th place.

By contrast, this season has been a difficult one; Palace have won just six games in the Premier League, losing 12 and sitting just five points above the relegation zone.

Palace’s problems stem largely from their lack of goals, with the Eagles’ 27 less than everyone bar Everton, Burnley and Sheffield United, who make up the current bottom three.

Hodgson revealed in December that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season, but the club have fast-tracked his departure following their struggles amidst fan unrest.

Austrian Glasner appears a left-field choice of replacement, but the 49-year-old boasts a strong resume from his time in the Bundesliga.

Glasner led Austrian club LASK to second-place in the 2018-19 season before moving to Germany to take over at Wolfsburg, where he helped the club qualify for the Champions League in just his second campaign in charge.

He was subsequently hired by Eintracht Frankfurt, where he enjoyed immediate success, beating Rangers on penalties to win the Europa League despite a disappointing league campaign where they finished 11th.

The following season saw Frankfurt exit the Champions League at the hands of Napoli in the last 16, finish seventh in the Bundesliga and reach the DFB Pokal final, where they were beaten 2-0 by RB Leipzig, upon which the Austrian departed the club.

Glaser’s first task at Selhurst Park will be a difficult away trip to face Everton, who sit in 18th just five points behind them.

In a worrying development, Hodgson was taken ill at training on Thursday and taken to hospital for tests – we send our best wishes to Roy for a quick recovery.

Image Credit: Rockybiggs, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons