Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has given insight into his “great partnership” with sporting director Dougie Freedman.
Freedman manages the recruitment at the South London club, with his stellar talent identification bringing the likes of Michael Olise (now departed for Bayern Munich), Marc Guehi, Adam Wharton and Maxence Lacroix to Crystal Palace.
Despite interest from Newcastle and Manchester United earlier this term, the former Eagles forward opted to remain in post, rebuffing approaches from the Northern clubs.
Sunday’s FA Cup opponents, Stockport County, are familiar foes for Freedman, who made 327 appearances for the Eagles over two spells at the club. The Scotsman has scored in each of Crystal Palace’s last three meetings with the Hatters; the most recent clash came this weekend 23 years ago when Freedman dispatched the sole goal in England’s second tier.
In his pre-match press conference, Glasner was shocked that his sporting director netted the last goal between the two clubs: “He scored the goal? He didn’t tell me. We are always talking about transfers and not about his career,” the Eagles boss joked.
Over two decades later, Freedman continues to play a vital role in SE25, but instead of scoring the goals, he now recruits the goalscorers.
Glasner is full of appreciation for Scotsman, who is believed to be working on bringing Romain Esse and El Hadji Malick Diouf to Crystal Palace. The Europa League-winning coach detailed their concerted approach to the transfer market while explaining their coalition goes beyond signings and sales.
“He has been a big support for me — in many parts. Of course, we are talking often. He has so much experience as a player, manager and sporting director. This helps me a lot.
“Also, it was my first Christmas period [in England] and we were talking about the best way to manage that, which was great.
“Now, we are talking about transfer targets. How we discuss it, defining profiles and then how they will work. They show [how any new additions would contribute to the system] to me and we still have discussions. He is great to work with and I really appreciate all the support.
“What I ask of the players is to be open-minded, listen and try, and I expect the same from myself. I have a great guy in Dougie that I can listen to. I appreciate him and all of his experience — it helps me a lot in managing different situations.
It’s a great partnership.”
