Oliver Glasner leaves Crystal Palace after a historic trophy-winning spell

When Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish first met Oliver Glasner in late 2023, he did not know the meeting would alter the course of the club's history.

Sporting director Dougie Freedman had arranged the meeting in south London after tracking Glasner's work in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt. Roy Hodgson was still in charge at Selhurst Park, but pressure was building for change. Parish would usually have preferred a manager with Premier League experience, yet Glasner made a strong impression.

By the time Hodgson left the following February, Palace were already moving toward appointing the Austrian. Two and a half years later, Glasner has led Crystal Palace to Conference League glory with a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig.

It was his final match in charge and it came at the end of an extraordinary 12-month spell of success.

"He has got to be one of the best managers Crystal Palace have ever had," said Palace midfielder Adam Wharton.

"He has made a massive difference for how the club looks at competitions. We are not just looking to stay in the Premier League and be in Europe, we are looking to win and be as high as possible."

The scale of the achievement was striking. At the start of last season, Palace had never won a major trophy. Within 375 days, they had lifted the FA Cup, Community Shield and Conference League.

Palace had barely finished celebrating their FA Cup final win over Manchester City at Wembley when another blow arrived. In early July, with Selhurst Park preparing for Europa League football for the first time, Uefa ruled that Palace had breached multi-club ownership rules because American businessman John Textor held stakes in both Palace and Lyon, who had also qualified for the Europa League. Palace were therefore demoted to the Conference League.

The decision threatened to overshadow the club's success before the new season had begun. Parish called it "probably one of the greatest injustices that has ever happened in European football" before an unsuccessful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Even so, the setback did not derail Palace. They began the new season by beating Premier League champions Liverpool in the Community Shield at Wembley.

Instability soon returned. Eberechi Eze left for Arsenal for a record fee after five years at the club, and Palace almost also lost captain Marc Guehi. Guehi was close to joining Liverpool until Palace stopped the deal late on deadline day when a move for Brighton defender Igor Julio, identified as his replacement, failed to materialise.

After Guehi's transfer collapsed, the relationship between Glasner and Parish appeared strained. Reports said Glasner, who was also in the final year of his contract, had threatened to quit if Parish had approved Guehi's move to Merseyside.

Glasner was frustrated that Palace, on the verge of their first European campaign and facing at least six additional league-phase matches, appeared ready to sanction departures instead of keeping and strengthening the squad.

By the middle of the season, Palace were in crisis. During a poor run between December and January, the campaign threatened to unravel on and off the pitch.

The club went 12 games without a win in all competitions, dropped out of the Premier League's top five and fell toward the relegation zone. Their Conference League hopes were also in jeopardy after they failed to finish in the top eight and were forced into the play-offs.

The lowest point came in early January, when Palace suffered what the article describes as the biggest shock in FA Cup history by losing to non-league Macclesfield.

Less than two weeks later, Glasner increased the turmoil by announcing unexpectedly that he would leave at the end of the season.

The decision followed Palace agreeing to sell Guehi to Manchester City, with Glasner later accusing Parish and the club's other decision-makers of having "completely" abandoned his team.

"The way in which his departure was announced - and his attitude in those weeks - put a slight grey cloud over my feelings towards him," says Ellie Killick from Crystal Palace fanzine Eagle Eye View.

"In January, it was a tough time to support Palace."

At that stage, it appeared unlikely that Glasner would even complete the season. But Parish accepted that Glasner could be emotional while also being the most successful manager the club had ever had. It is understood that the idea of dismissing the former Wolfsburg and Frankfurt manager rarely entered Parish's thinking.

That decision changed Palace's trajectory.

When Glasner said farewell to Selhurst Park on Sunday after the final Premier League match of the season, he joked about his disagreements with Parish.

"Now I'm leaving, I don't have to agree with the chairman," he said with a smile. "He said the best day was the FA Cup final, but I don't agree. The best day is still to come in Leipzig."

The exchange reflected Palace's confidence before their first European final, a sharp contrast with their position at the start of the year.

The Conference League final victory, which guarantees Palace a place in next season's Europa League, marked the final chapter of Glasner's time at the club.

"Right now I can't even believe it is the last game," said Glasner after full-time on Wednesday. "It is a good chapter to read in the Crystal Palace book but other good chapters will follow.

"I said to the players after the FA Cup, go and get what you deserve - the Europa League.

"Now with a one year delay, the club, fans, players, sometimes you have to take a road around and now Crystal Palace is where it should be."

Killick said Glasner had "completely changed the trajectory of Crystal Palace Football Club".

"Before he came, we were content with finishing mid-table and having half decent cup runs but never going all the way.

"Now in the past 12 months, we've won three cups and been on a European tour, something that was a distant dream 18 months ago.

"We've had plenty of managers over the past decade, but none has reached the heights Glasner has taken us to.

"The next person to manage Crystal Palace will have big shoes to fill, and I just hope the ambition doesn't depart with him."

Crystal Palace supporters have never had it so good.