Uncertainty over Glasner lays heavy
- Published
Oliver Glasner's remarkable story - from the brink of death after a brain haemorrhage aged 37 while playing for SV Ried, to his rise as one of European football's most respected coaches - is well told.
Emergency surgery saved his life, but retirement as a player followed on medical advice.
Glasner turned to coaching, and thrived. At Selhurst Park, he has brought success to a club that appeared content with survival.
And it is for that reason the 51-year-old's uncertain future at Palace lays so heavily.
Sources have told BBC Sport that Glasner was offered a new contract earlier this summer, but has yet to put pen to paper on an extension.
Well-placed insiders claim the Austrian preferred to wait until the end of the transfer window before making a decision - a choice motivated by his inclination to see how committed the club were to strengthening the squad.
As the weeks progressed, Glasner was openly critical of how Palace operated in a summer in which the club made a profit of £16.3m.
Of Palace's five new signings, only Yeremy Pino has started a Premier League game so far.
And then there was the saga of them being demoted from the Europa League by Uefa for breaching multi-club ownership rules.
With all that in mind, it is understandable Glasner has, at best, shown a reluctance to commit.
So that begs the question - could he still be persuaded to stay in the future?