How Glasner led Palace through darkness to light of FA Cup glory

Crystal Palace's greatest day, and the glory of the FA Cup final win against Manchester City, came after they emerged into the light from the darkness of a crisis that threatened to sweep over manager Oliver Glasner.

Palace's worst start to a season since 1992-93 - they failed to win in the Premier League until beating Tottenham in their ninth game at Selhurst Park on 27 October - was a far distant memory in the Wembley sunshine as the Eagles celebrated the first major success in their history.

As Glasner and his triumphant Palace side celebrated in front of their ecstatic support with their anthem 'Glad All Over' echoing around the stadium, this was ultimate justification for chairman Steve Parish and Selhurst Park's hierarchy holding their nerve as storm clouds gathered around the 50-year-old Austrian.

It was also vindication of Glasner's own approach, after he said during those troubled times in October: "It's time for hugging my players, not kicking them."

There was plenty of hugging going on at Wembley as Palace paraded the FA Cup, the crowning glory of the recovery fashioned by Glasner, carried out brilliantly by his players.

"That's what Oliver Glasner's done - he made us all believe," Parish told BBC One in the immediate aftermath of their battling 1-0 victory. "You could see it at the end. I am so proud."

Glasner's reaction when history was made matched his management style - calm and measured as he marched over to shake hands with beaten City counterpart Pep Guardiola.

Allied to these qualities, Glasner's intensity and positive approach drew comparisons with Jurgen Klopp when he won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022.

It served Glasner and Palace well when they stalled badly at the start of this season.

Glasner never lost faith in himself when Palace secured only three points from their first eight games this season. And, more significantly, he never lost faith in Palace's players.

He believed there were genuine reasons for Palace's slow start after finishing the previous campaign with 19 points out of a possible 21.

This meticulous and strict personality, who plans everything around his outlook calendar, was overseeing a major transition after Palace lost arguably their most gifted forward when Michael Olise moved to Bayern Munich in a £50m deal. Key defender Joachim Andersen also left to join to Fulham for £30m.

Eddie Nketiah arrived from Arsenal for £30m, but had not been training, while other big elements of his squad were under-cooked.

Eberechi Eze, Adam Wharton, Marc Guehi and goalkeeper Dean Henderson had been with England at Euro 2024, while Jean-Philippe Mateta had played for France in the Olympic final. Jefferson Lerma and Daniel Munoz were with Colombia at the Copa America.

Glasner was confident Palace would be a force once they were back up to speed, while he also had to integrate four deadline-day signings, including Nketiah, defender Maxence Lacroix from Wolfsburg, keeper Matt Turner from Nottingham Forest and on-loan Trevoh Chalobah from Chelsea.

And so it has proved. Spectacularly.

Parish insists Glasner's position was never in doubt having witnessed his work and upbeat nature on the training ground. This day, when a new chapter was written in Palace's history, is the payback for that show of faith.

Glasner has devised the perfect system to suit the attacking trio of Eze, Ismaila Sarr and Mateta, the latter the spearhead and focal point, the others drifting behind with freedom and menace.

Palace have strengths elsewhere, with Munoz directly involved in 13 goals in all competitions this season - six goals and seven assists, the joint-most of any defender for Premier League clubs in 2024-25 alongside Tottenham's Pedro Porro.

The Eagles' back three of Chris Richards, Lacroix and Guehi have been rock solid, even though Palace lost influential captain Guehi after 61 minutes at Wembley following a blow to the head.

And, crucially on the big occasions when margins are fine, Palace also possess an X-factor.

Glasner's big players, those he was convinced would come out of that early-season slump, have delivered throughout this FA Cup journey, and were heroes again against City.

Eze's crisp 16th-minute strike settled this final, finishing off a classic Palace counter-attack with a sweeping finish past City keeper Stefan Ortega.

It was Palace's first shot and first touch inside the penalty box, but with such economy and ruthlessness came the decisive moment.

The gifted forward set Palace on their way at Fulham in the quarter-final then Aston Villa in the semi-final at Wembley.

When, as they will be forever, stories of Palace's FA Cup win are told, Eze's name will be permanently attached.

Henderson has also decorated Palace's success, first against Villa and again here, when he was a Palace hero and City's villain.

Henderson's only misjudgement came when he hesitated in a race with Erling Haaland to reach Josko Gvardiol's long ball, handling outside his area, relief coming when the video assistant referee ruled City's striker had been moving away from goal and was not denied a clear scoring opportunity.

Either side of this incident, Henderson was faultless as he saved from Haaland, Gvardiol and Jeremy Doku in the first half, then City substitute Claudio Echeverri late on.

England head coach Thomas Tuchel, an admirer of Henderson, was watching and, while the keeper may have some way to go to justify the chants of "England's number one" from Palace fans, there is no question he has strengthened his claims.

He certainly got under Guardiola's skin, City's frustrated manager appearing to aim angry words in Henderson's direction at the final whistle.

No such problems for Palace. This was joy unconfined for everyone involved, especially the supporters who back the Eagles so noisily and passionately, and were so desperate to banish the heartbreak of FA Cup final defeats against Manchester United in 1990 and 2016.

Until Palace embarked on this run to FA Cup glory, Glasner's three previous Wembley visits had been to watch England twice and drop his daughter off at a Taylor Swift concert.

He has now made Wembley memories of his own to savour, following up a comprehensive 3-0 win against Villa in the semi-final then hearing the sweet sound of Palace's fans belting out their full victory playlist once referee Stuart Attwell signalled the end of 10 tortuous minutes of added time.

Glasner's message of caution before the FA Cup final, when talk of history was raised, was: "You don't talk about an egg until the hen has laid it."

The egg, when laid, was golden.

Now Glasner, Palace and their elated followers can talk about this historic day forever.