Who is Oliver Glasner? Passionate boss will demand the ambition that Crystal Palace fans crave

Crystal Palace fans have long craved a manager whose animated passion on the sidelines is matched by an aggressive front-foot style. In Oliver Glasner, they may well get just that.

Palace are putting the details in place for Glasner's arrival, with the Austrian having verbally agreed to replace Roy Hodgson as manager in a deal expected to run until 2026.

Hodgson is set to depart after a testing campaign in which Palace have won only four of their last 18 Premier League matches and sit just five points above the relegation zone.

The 76-year-old collapsed on Thursday while taking training ahead of Monday's trip to Everton. The former England manager was taken to hospital, where he was later on his feet and speaking to doctors.

Palace had been paving the way for Glasner to replace him. The 49-year-old led Eintracht Frankfurt to Europa League glory two seasons ago, with Palace's chairman Steve Parish and sporting director Dougie Freedman having been impressed by his high-intensity style of play.

Frankfurt knocked out West Ham and Barcelona on the way to the title, and his side balanced a high-press with a well-organised defence.

All too often in recent years, Palace have been passive out of possession, sitting back and affording the opposition time on the ball.

Since their 2013 promotion, the Eagles have finished between 10th and 15th every single season, with livewire attackers such as Wilfried Zaha and, more recently, Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze lifting them clear of relegation trouble with individual brilliance.

The reason keeping Hodgson on for this season was not a popular move for all of the Palace fanbase, is that it indicated a state of limbo rather than the club looking to the future.

A more sustainable and reliable way of winning matches is called for — and Glasner will be tasked with instilling it. He favoured a 3-4-2-1 system with Frankfurt, which included a narrow attacking channel, perhaps indicating a change of role for the likes of Olise, who usually plays wide.

But Glasner is not tactically inflexible. Palace fans will take heart from his stint at Wolfsburg before Frankfurt. There, he switched between systems and demonstrated tactical versatility.

Oliver Glasner

Managerial CV

Age: 49

Nationality: Austrian

Coaching career

2014-15: SV Ried

2015-19: LASK

2019-21: Wolfsburg

2021-23: Eintracht Frankfurt

Honours

2017: Austrian Second Division title

2022: Europa League

Palace have averaged just 41 per cent possession this season, and that is something Glasner will seek to change quickly.

Just as exciting for Palace is Glasner's record of improving players. He got the goalscoring best out of former Manchester United striker Wout Weghorst at Wolfsburg. And at Frankfurt, he turned the promising yet inconsistent Randal Kolo Muani into a World Cup runner-up with France.

An experienced but unspectacular defender, Glasner spent all 19 years of his playing career with Austrian second-tier side SV Ried. His career was cut short, though, when he suffered a brain bleed in 2011.

Heading into management, he briefly managed Ried and was also Roger Schmidt's assistant at RB Salzburg, before making his name as manager of Austrian side LASK, where he won promotion.

It was this stint that earned him the job with Wolfsburg, whom he led to Champions League qualification against the odds. It is a sign of his influence that shortly after he left, they were nearly relegated.

A disastrous start to his Frankfurt spell saw them fail to win any of his first eight games in charge. By the time he left, they had won the Europa League and reached the German Cup final.

He joined Frankfurt after publicly criticising Wolfsburg's transfer policy, and his Frankfurt sacking at the end of last season was remarkably similar, Glasner again publicly criticising the club for their lack of spending. Palace had better take note and back him.

Glasner held talks with Ajax, Lyon and Marseille this season, but his mentor, Austria manager Ralf Rangnick, convinced him to move to England, where budgets are bigger.

That has not always been the case at Palace, but the Eagles spent more than any other Premier League club in January, splashing a combined £29.4million on Adam Wharton and Daniel Munoz.

Glasner will believe he can make them, and their team-mates, better players.