Such is the nature of modern football, a sporting director can be about as important as any person within the organisation, and their departure can leave a chasm at the club.
While it might not have been immediately obvious, that appears to have been the case at Crystal Palace.
When Dougie Freedman arrived at Selhurst Park, the Eagles were finding their feet in the Premier League. While they hadn’t finished lower than 15th in their four seasons, they’d bounced from manager to manager to do so, with Ian Holloway, Tony Pulis, Neil Warnock, Alan Pardew and Sam Allardyce all spending time in the dugout, but only Pardew saw more than 30 games in charge.
The Frank de Boer experiment was quickly corrected by the appointment of Roy Hodgson, with Patrick Vieira succeeding the former England manager and Hodgson eventually returning.
While Palace’s managerial appointments were never overly inspired – until the appointment of Glasner – it was their work in the transfer market that has consistently kept them afloat.
Jokes have often been pointed at Palace’s almost boring consistency; since returning to the Premier League they’ve never had fewer than 41 points, and until last season (53), they’d never had more than 49. They’d never finished lower than 15th or higher than 10th.
A cynic might suggest that Palace have plateaued – stagnated, even – but the fact is that the Eagles have never had such a sustained period in the English top flight. In their history, Palace have enjoyed 26 seasons in the top flight; this season is their 13th in a row and next season will be their 14th.
In recent years under Freedman, Palace brought the likes of Marc Guehi, Joachim Anderson, Maxence Lacroix, Adam Wharton, Cheick Doucoure, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Michael Olise, Ebere Eze, Jefferson Lerma, Daniel Munoz and Dean Henderson to the club. Nearly all could be or were sold on for a sizeable profit. They’ve also been shrewd in the loan market, with Conor Gallagher, Trevoh Chalobah and Ben Chilwell arriving on short-term deals.
Since Freedman’s exit, however, there has been a notable shift. Glasner himself was clearly unhappy at the club’s lack of transfer activity, not helped by the uncertainty around Guehi’s future. The club’s only substantial summer signings heading into a European campaign were Yeremy Pino and Jaydee Canvot with the latter one for the future, and this was while dealing with the loss of Eze.
The January transfer window will likely be a turning point in Palace’s season, for better or worse.
The addition of Brennan Johnson for £35m already feels like a remarkable waste of money and the departure of Guehi will see the England defender leave for much less than they’d have liked.
The end of the season will likely see Palace without European football with Wharton and Mateta courted by a number of clubs. The sale of the two would raise well over £100m, but can the new Palace hierarchy be trusted to spend it well?
It’s not clear who will take over from Glasner but Palace are approaching a crossroads. The Austrian won over fans with his back-three system that could stifle teams while being a threat on the counter. Jose Bardalas is the early favourite; an appointment that is unlikely to win over hearts nor minds.
The Spaniard has punched above his weight in Spain, but his style doesn’t seem to suggest he'd be a suitable successor to Glasner. While Glasner was happy to invite the opposition on, Bordalas wants his teams to press much more aggressively.
Do Palace have the players to implement such a game plan? If not, are they confident they can reshape the squad sufficiently?
Freedman leaving was Palace’s first domino. The impending departures of Guehi and Glasner are the next two.
