February 10 2026

Oliver Glasner

It's that time again. In the 13 years Crystal Palace have established themselves as a Premier League side, they've had to evolve, writes Andy Blake.

From the early days of Ian Holloway, Bolaise flicks, and Mile Jedinak screamers at Selhurst Park to lifting the FA Cup at Wembley, the club has undergone different phases, changes, and facelifts to ensure its top-flight status amongst England's elite.

The fear now is it's happening again, and this time the stakes feel higher than ever. The win at Brighton was sweet, and all but confirms Palace's safety for another season of Premier League football.

Despite how unpredictable the betting odds are currently and how volatile the table looks anywhere from 16th to sixth place, this side has too much quality to go down.

The teams hovering above the drop zone just aren't as good, and, according to data from sportsbooks and gaming platforms that help fans find trusted slot games available in the UK, 10 of the last 15 newly promoted sides have gone straight back down. Palace’s ceiling remains far higher than theirs.

That said, you wonder what comes next for the Eagles, and if last summer's success was as high as the club could soar. The FA Cup triumph felt like a culmination of years of smart recruitment and tactical evolution, but the months since have exposed how delicate that progress was.

Palace are facing a crossroads, and the decisions made this summer will determine whether they build on recent success or slip further than just mid-table anonymity.

Glasner going

It's been a tough start to 2026. Oliver Glasner has confirmed he'll leave at the end of the season after refusing a new contract, citing a desire for a new challenge. The Austrian is already being linked with Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Liverpool, with his ambitions clearly being to manage a club that doesn't need to keep evolving just to survive.

His tenure has seen Palace sell the likes of Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and, in January, Marc Guehi to Manchester City. These players helped take Palace from plucky underdogs to a genuine threat.

They've beaten everyone there is to beat domestically, seeing off the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and City at Selhurst Park. The problem appears to be taking that next step, moving from occasional giant-killers to consistent top-half finishers.

With Jean-Philippe Mateta almost out the door in January too, only staying because he failed his medical at AC Milan, it looks as if the summer is about a full-scale rebuild.

Palace are losing their manager, and potentially their best remaining players, and the club must handle the transition carefully to avoid slipping backwards. Supporters understood the sale of Eze and Olise as inevitable, given their talent and the financial realities of the club, but losing Glasner feels different.

What happens next?

Palace must handle the summer delicately. In fairness to Glasner, he's maintained his full commitment to the club until June, and with all the circus around the Brighton game, he managed to navigate a really good win.

Jørgen Strand Larsen led the line at The Amex, and it looks as if he'll be Mateta's replacement going forward. The Frenchman will be desperate for minutes to ensure he has a place on the plane for France's World Cup squad in June, and a good performance in America could add a few more millions to his value if he does leave.

Elsewhere, Dwight McNeil's move could be revisited under a new manager after the club pulled out of a transfer with Everton at the last minute. Alongside Brennan Johnson, they could form a new-look attack that offers pace and directness.

But the big question is who replaces Glasner in the dugout, and this is where Steve Parish has to get it right.

Fans have already seen what taking too many risks can do. Frank de Boer's short tenure bordered on embarrassing, and the club were quick to pull the plug after just four matches. There's no Roy Hodgson safe haven this time. Hodgson's retired, and Palace don't have that reliable firefighter waiting in the wings to steady the ship when things go wrong.

Patrick Vieira's era was a fun ride and the days out at Wembley made it memorable, but it wasn't sustainable. The football was attractive, the cup runs were exciting, but Vieira couldn't deliver the consistency required to push Palace into the top half. In a league as volatile as the Premier League, you need results, not transitional periods.

You only need to look at West Ham as the best example of what happens when you start punching above your weight. They gambled on life getting better after David Moyes and now find themselves in a relegation scrap, the fans more disconnected than ever from the board and the players.

Palace know that all it takes is one bad appointment and they could go from Europe to the Championship in the space of 18 months. The margins are that fine.

Evolution or decline?

The next 12 months will likely see Palace evolve again. The club has undergone multiple transformations since returning to the Premier League in 2013, each time adapting to new circumstances and finding ways to survive. The Pulis era was about establishing top-flight status.

The Pardew years were about stability. Hodgson brought pragmatism and safety. Vieira offered ambition. Glasner delivered silverware. Now Palace must figure out what comes next and if this is as good as it gets. The recruitment is important, as is the man giving the orders.

Unless by some miracle the club win the Europa Conference League, there won't be the distraction of continental football in south London next season. With just the league to focus on, it could be a slow but important season for the Eagles. Palace supporters have seen this before. The club evolves, adapts, survives. But each time feels more precarious than the last, and the gap between success and failure keeps shrinking.

The summer will define whether Palace can maintain their upward trajectory or whether last season's FA Cup triumph was the peak of this cycle. The decisions made in the coming months will echo for years, and Palace can't afford to get them wrong.