Pierre Sage Sacked by Crystal Palace As Clear Frontrunner Emerges
Crystal Palace have dismissed Pierre Sage after just 16 games in charge, with Thomas Frank emerging as the leading contender to replace him at Selhurst Park.
Sunday’s 3–1 defeat to Liverpool proved the final straw, leaving Palace bottom of the Premier League throughout the November international break. Sage becomes the second Premier League manager to lose his job this season, following Michael Carrick’s departure from Manchester United.
It was Palace’s seventh league defeat in 10 games—a stark decline after the two most trophy-laden campaigns in the club’s history under Oliver Glasner.
“Today, my job is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to find an efficient solution for the team and club.”
Palace have decided that a change of manager is the solution. Sage struggled to build on Glasner’s success, and even the victories offered little reassurance. After wins against Fulham and Nottingham Forest, the Frenchman offered sympathy to opponents who had created considerably more chances.
The November international break offers an incoming manager time to work before the festive fixture schedule takes hold. Other Premier League clubs also face questions over their managers, including Manchester United, who sit only two places above Palace.
Thomas Frank leads the succession race
Former Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank is the leading contender for the vacancy. BBC Sport’s Sami Mokbel reports that talks between Palace and Frank are advanced, narrowing a search that Sky Sports News says initially included seven possible successors.
Frank has been unattached since leaving Spurs in February after a poor run of results, which initially worsened immediately after his departure. He enjoyed considerable success at Brentford, although questions remain over how much of that reflected his own qualities and how much owed to the club’s structure.
Sean Dyche was also touted as a candidate. His experience of avoiding relegation with Burnley and Everton would be relevant to Palace’s predicament. Vítor Pereira has a similar record with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest, while Frank Lampard is involved in his own survival battle at Coventry City.
Palace have also considered looking to the Championship, a division that supplied some of their best recent player signings in Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton. Middlesbrough’s Kim Hellberg and Swansea City’s Vítor Matos are thought to have been considered.
Australia manager Tony Popovic was another figure under consideration. He has a direct connection to Selhurst Park, having spent five years as a Palace player at the start of the 21st century.
