Rarely in football does a manager have the opportunity to leave a club on his own terms at the absolute zenith of his time at the helm.
On Thursday night however, Oliver Glasner has the chance to do just that when he takes charge of Crystal Palace for the final time in the UEFA Conference League final.
828 days have passed since Glasner took the reins at Selhurst Park.
Named as Roy Hodgson's successor in February 2024 with the Eagles sitting 15th in the Premier League table, Glasner came with an impressive reputation having led Eintracht Frankfurt to victory in the Europa League.
A comfortable 3-0 victory over Burnley in his first game in charge appeared to vindicate the club's decision to appoint him, but trouble was right around the corner.
A five-game winless streak saw Palace slip down the league table, with only the weakness of the three promoted sides preventing them getting sucked into a battle for survival.
An uptick in form followed however, with the trio of Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta enjoying an inspired run as the club went unbeaten in their final seven games to claim a place in the top half on the final day.
A history-making campaign
After being linked to a host of Europe's top clubs throughout the summer, talisman Olise joined Bayern Munich in the summer in a club-record £50million deal.
The departure of such a key player could have been disastrous ahead of Glasner's first full season at Selhurst Park but the Austrian re-invested the funds wisely and brought in the likes of Ismaila Sarr and Maxcene Lacroix.
A dismal run of form to kick off the campaign threatened to bring Glanser's reign to an end - Palace had won just a single Premier League game at the start of December - but they would soon find salvation in the FA Cup.
Wins over Stockport County, Doncaster Rovers, Millwall, Fulham and Aston Villa in the competition provided a much-needed morale boost and coincided with an uptick in form in the league as they club climbed away from the bottom three.
With safety secured well in advance of the final day all attentions turned to Wembley as Palace prepared to face Manchester City at the home of football.
In front of a capacity crowd Glasner led his side to their first-ever major trophy, with Eberechi Eze netting the only goal of the game and Dean Henderson denying Omar Marmoush from 12 yards to write themselves into club folklore.
Eagles on the continent
By lifting the trophy Palace qualified for European football for the first time in their history, taking their place in the play-off round.
Once again however, the players that had led to team to such unprecedented success were immediately targets for Europe's elite and while Palace were able to cling on to captain Marc Guehi in the summer window, Eberechi Eze left for Arsenal.
After beating Norwegian side Fredrikstad over two legs, Palace joined the 36-team league phase and claimed a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv to kick off their European campaign in earnest.
Inconsistency proved to be a consistent theme of their maiden European run however, and a 2-2 draw against KuPS meant they missed out on an automatic place in the round of 16.
Glasner announced in January that he would not be extending his contract at the club, with the sale of Guehi to Manchester City leading to speculation that he was frustrated at the club's failure to keep hold of their star players.
The worst was still yet to come.
A 1-1 draw with Bosnian side Zrinjski Mostar in the knock-out phase arguably represented the nadir of his time in charge and frustrations boiled over among some of the travelling support at the final whistle.
Despite the lacklustre performance Palace recovered to reach the round of 16 where they limped by Cypriot club AEK Larnaca after a goalless draw in the first leg.
A resounding 3-0 win at home to Fiorentina followed, and despite losing 2-1 in Florence in the return fixture, Palace once again moved on and claimed their place in the final four.
Beating Shakhtar Donetsk both home and away to secure their passage to a first-ever European final, Palace achieved a fairytale ending to Glasner's time in charge.
Mateta's finish early in the second half proved to be the vital difference in Leipzig as Palace conquered Rayo Vallecano to achieve their third trophy in the space of 12 months after 120 years without winning major silverware.
Victory allows Palace's European adventure to continue in next season's Europa League and enshrines Glasner's place as the club's greatest-ever manager.
