From trophy high to messy divorce: Glasner condemns Palace’s lack of backing amid Guehi to City | OneFootball

Oliver Glasner is heading for the exit door at Crystal Palace, but not before some choice words for the club's owners.

After announcing his intention to leave when his contract expires in the summer on Friday, Glasner was again at the centre of headlines this weekend. He accused the Palace board of 'abandoning' the squad this season, following a lack of recruitment and high-profile sales.

Having fought to keep Marc Guehi in the summer, Palacehave now agreed to sell the defender to Manchester City this month. It's a decision that has angered the head coach.

"I feel we are being abandoned completely," he toldBBC Match of the Day after the club's 2-1 defeat at Sunderland.

"I can't blame any player. They did everything they could and this has been going on for weeks and months now. We have 12, 13 players from the squad available and we feel no support.

"The worst thing is selling our captain one day before playing aPremier League game. We are preparing, it's the first [full] week we are training since September, and then we are selling our captain one day before a game. So I have no understanding of this.

"I have always kept my mouth [shut], but I can't because I have to defend these players, because it was the 35th game today. Yes we get under pressure here and we are unlucky. But again, you can't react, we can't help them, it makes it really tough.

"If you get your heart torn out twice this season, one day before a game, it was with Eze in the summer, it was with Guehi now...

"What should I tell the players all the time? What should I tell them? And then I see the performance today for 50, 60 minutes - it was not easy with all the circumstances going here with 12 players from the squad.

"I look at the bench, I can't react, just kids on the bench, and this has not happened yesterday, this is weeks ago. That's why I'm really frustrated today."

So, where now exactly? Clear-the-air talks are reported to have taken place on Sunday with a decision to be made on whether Glasner remains until the summer. The atmosphere right now suggests that could be toxic.

Having led the Eagles to their first-ever major trophy last season, Glasner has become infuriated with the club's direction. Their demotion to the Conference League over multi-club ownership issues was the first blow before, in his eyes, a failure to kick on.

Palace brought in just three senior players in last summer's window, despite banking £60m from the sale of Eberechi Eze to Arsenal. It was hardly ideal preparation for a maiden continental campaign.

Glasner is right to feel aggrieved at a lack of ambition, though perspective is also needed. His insistence that Guehi remained last summer was a bad business decision for the club, for a player who had communicated his unwillingness to extend his deal.

Had the England international been made available early in the summer, a fee in excess of £50m would likely have been received. Instead, after a botched move to Liverpool on deadline day, Guehi will join Manchester City for a fraction of that value.

Why push so hard for Guehi to remain if, so soon after the window's closure, Glasner had already announced privately his intent to move on?

Manchester United have been named as an option for the Austrian post-Palace, with the role vacant following Ruben Amorim's exit.

Glasner's recent comments echo those from Amorim, and indeed Enzo Maresca in a bizarre month for management in thePremier League. Amid growing in-house friction, each pulled no punches at press conferences, perhaps making their positions untenable.

Was Glasner's public berating of the Palace board ultimately a plot to get himself sacked, keen to jump before any slump hits his hireability?

Whatever the intent, it looks likely to lead to a messy divorce between Palace and their inaugural trophy-winning head coach.