Oliver Glasner says he is pleased “from the bottom of my heart” that Roy Hodgson has recovered from illness, after his own playing days were ended by a brain bleed from which doctors gave him only a 50 per cent chance of surviving.
Glasner was announced as Crystal Palace’s new manager on Monday evening, just 100 minutes after it was confirmed that Hodgson had stepped down from the role.
Palace’s results had been poor under Hodgson, but his exit was accelerated after the 76-year-old collapsed while taking training. He subsequently made the decision to prioritise his health and step down.
Glasner’s first game as Palace boss is Saturday’s home match against fellow relegation contenders Burnley, but the Austrian was keen to remind reporters that he has a personal reason to be thinking, first and foremost, about Hodgson’s well-being.
“I had a 19-year career and for 18 years I played for the same club, [SV] Ried”, Glasner said.
“Sometimes you cannot plan what happens. I had a head injury, I crashed with a guy in a [Austrian] Bundesliga game, and then had emergency surgery in Copenhagen in an international game. I collapsed there. Everything was fine but I had concussion.
“I was told by the doctor it’s 50–50 to survive or not. When somebody tells that to you, afterwards, of course, you think. This is why I spoke about Roy — it really comes from the bottom of the heart. Sometimes we forget that health is our biggest value.
Oliver Glasner hopes to hold future talks with Crystal Palace predecessor Roy Hodgson (Various)
“I had this [experience] and survived, so I always said to myself, never forget this.”
Glasner, whose family will visit him in London this weekend, was originally supposed to replace Hodgson in the summer.
He said: “We thought we had this time because the owner’s plan for the club was to end the season with Roy. He is a fantastic manager who I got to know when he was England national team coach and I was in my first year as a coach in Ried.
“He came to Vienna to talk to us and is a great personality and a fantastic manager who I have a lot of respect for. I hope that I can talk to him, because I can also learn a lot from his experience.”
Palace sacked their last two overseas managers who were tasting Premier League management for the first time at Selhurst Park. But Glasner insisted the fates of Frank de Boer and Patrick Vieira do not concern him.
“If I [was] afraid to be sacked in four games, I wouldn’t have come to London,” he said. “I could have stayed in Austria and gone skiing. I am convinced we can win many games this year in the Premier League.
If I was afraid of being sacked in four games, I wouldn’t have come here
New Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner
“One of my biggest strengths and weaknesses is my impatience. So I hope it will be fast. Every manager has his ideas and the players have to deal with it. It is not that you click your fingers and the next day as that would be easy for us. It is daily work.
“Of my first eight games in [Eintracht] Frankfurt, there were five draws and three losses. Then the journey started. I hope we start better here.
“It’s not possible to play that intensely tomorrow because the players are not used to playing like this and I don’t demand it from them. Again, this will be step by step.
“But this is what I like, and I think it’s what the fans like. The fans like to have this attacking [football]. We will try to implement this.”
