Crystal Palace Co-owner & Chairman Steve Parish on Eberechi Eze, FA Cup glory, and Oliver Glasner’s impact: Running the Game 10/29/25

0:00You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network Suboptimal Radio. there have been a few moments that I've been at the club where I just make the decision on the basis I don't want to die wondering and I think that was a moment really with Oliver I just felt look this is the moment and I think this maybe is the guy either we try this or we're never going to try it we're always going to be 10th to 14th team is that how I want to leave this place is that what I want to be remembered for

0:36If you've ever wondered what a chairman of a football club does, this series, Running the Game, is for you. It's a series designed to speak to the human beings in the front office of football, in the boardroom, off the field, far away from the glare of the spotlight. They are the human beings that shape the game we love. How do their decisions work? How do they succeed? What do they learn from failure? This is Running the Game. My guest today is a remarkable human being, a gent who stepped in to save the football club he'd loved as a kid in its hour of need, saving it first from bankruptcy, leading the club back into the Premier League, making it a fixture in mid-table, which was meant to be the ceiling.

1:16But then last season, a euphoric burst of joy of one corner flag smashing celebration after another oversaw the team's first silverware in its 115-year history, that Wembley day out against Manchester City, a 1-0 victory, which honestly is a neutral looking around the world. The tenacity, the courage, the Buccaneer in football you could only look on in admiration unless you were a Brighton fan. To talk about that season, to talk about the story behind the story, it's a joy to sit here today with the co-owner and the chairman of Crystal Palace. It's Mr. Steve Parrish. Roger, some introduction. Thank you.

1:57Steve, I want to start by taking you back to something you said in 2015. and you had a quote, it was this. You said, in 10 to 15 years, Crystal Palace will win the Premier League. And that season, you ultimately ended 15th place. You'd only been promoted two years prior. I remember you saying it. I remember how much people laughed. They're honestly probably laughing a little bit more nervously today. But when you said that, did you mean it? And if you did, what were you basing it on? I felt that there was a shift. You could see the way the Premier League was moving. You could see the amount of money the Premier League was generating.

2:30And I just felt that a club like us, and indeed Leicester went on to do it, didn't they? You know, a club like us could have a good season, an out-performance season, and perhaps could win the league. And I still think, you know, it can happen. Bournemouth are up there. We're up there. Obviously, it takes an extraordinary set of circumstances. Everything needs to go for you to do it. But it's a fantastic league and it's getting even more competitive. And I think that's why people enjoy it all over the world. That 2015-16 season, You actually finished runners-up in the FA Cup. And this year, as I said, you only went and won the bloody thing.

3:04More than anything, that day, sight of the Palace fans filling Wembley, making memories, starting with that iconic Tifo of the late father with his two Crystal Palace-supporting sons, prophesying Wembley will shake and it will be beautiful. Two to the 16th minute, Eberichi Aze goal, your trophy list, Palace's first in their 115-year history. what's your most indelible memory of that day when you go back to that place what do you take from it i think the goal and the and the final whistle they're the two the final whistle was extraordinary

3:44of course we we have 165 year history in our world because there was a crystal palace in the meeting that formed the rules of association football and that was the original amateur club that was owned by exactly the same people. So we trace our lineage all the way back to there. And the very first FA Cups were played at Crystal Palace. So the story of the FA Cup and Crystal Palace are really interwoven from the very start of the competition. And from when I was a very young kid, this was the only live game on television in the UK. There was no other live game. Massive. The whole country coalesced around that game from the moment the players woke up in the morning at the team hotel, traveling on the coach.

4:25And in some ways it was bigger at the time than the division one title. You know, it was almost like the Superbowl of football. When I was 11, Palace in the third division got to the semifinal, one of only five or six clubs. And that's when I felt that there was a context that had something to do with us, that maybe we could do something. And I think it's become a kind of holy grail for Palace fans, this competition, because it's a little bit more winnable than the league title, because it was and is such a big thing to win, you know, the second competition, if you like, even if it's not now the first one, certainly the one that's revered by all the clubs.

5:01So, you know, we went through a journey, didn't we? 1990, right and bright. Got to the final, came very close. I don't know what it is, 11, 12 minutes and Man United equalised and then take us to a replay when we lose. I was at the replay. When I come to buy the club, Alan and I kind of form this plan that, you know, we think we can win it. You know, we get to the final eight minutes away, I think we are, from winning and Man United again equalise. So it's been a lifelong journey, really. And something that that final whistle that you mentioned, that moment of that exalted joy from all of South London was quite incredible to see.

5:36I mean, I knew what it would mean to me, but to see what it meant to the people in the crowd, you know, the outpouring of emotion. And I think, as you say, how well received it was by pretty much everybody else because it proved, you know, there is a competition. Teams like us can win things. We scored 13 goals, conceded one in that whole cup run. We beat three teams above us in the league. We definitely deserved it. So there was nothing that felt hollow about it at all. And hopefully it's something we can build from, you know, it's a platform we can drive on from.

6:09But let's back up to the beginning of the story. Your story is well known. June 1st, 2010 Palace facing administration bankruptcy. No buyers could be found. You were running a successful advertising company and you decided on a fateful June day to form a consortium right here. South London boys, fellow fans to buy Crystal Palace. And you said you quickly learned the hard way how, quote, otherwise brilliant businessmen lose their minds when they get involved in football. just chasing that next win or windfall. You also called ownership a pressure like none other. So tell us, Mayor Mortals, how would you describe the main role of a Premier League club owner?

6:49What's the most important thing you do as chairman? I think you have to create the conditions for success. That's the main thing you do. I mean, obviously, you don't coach the team generally and you don't kick a football in anger. So, you know, your job is to try and create an environment, try and get the right people involved and create the conditions where the club can be successful and it can grow. So, you know, and that really is about trying to make a lot more right decisions than wrong ones. And it's trying to put all the building blocks in place, you know, where the club can succeed. And then when you get to that place where, you know, whatever you thought success was getting promoted to the Premier League, you've then got to build a new platform and try and aim for that and create the conditions where you can get to that.

7:28So it's been a long, slow journey. We haven't thrown crazy money at it. You know, the club has really run pretty much off of its own resources. plus obviously the support of great partners that have had the original three guys and then obviously now Josh, David and Woody have been fantastic. And we try and do it the right way. You know, we try as much as possible for the club to live within its means. We put capital in, you know, when it does need capital obviously to grow, to build facilities like this, to develop the stadium, which, you know, will really start in earnest in January. There's a lot of background stuff going on now.

7:58So taking a club that has had a chequered past and hasn't, for whatever reason, fulfilled its potential and has fallen quite a long way behind in terms of infrastructure, etc., is a challenge, you know, and you can't do it all overnight. So that's really the job. You know, the job is to get up every day, try and, you know, nudge the ball a little bit further down the pitch. I mean, we are here, you're quite incredible training ground. Last night, I saw the vision of what the stadium could look like. It's been some learning curve, just that balance between investing in infrastructure or personnel and transfers itself must be a perpetual agony.

8:37The search for the right coach, the search for the right talent. What's been the hardest lesson that you've had to learn in this past 15 years and how did you learn it? I suppose the hardest lesson is you can't control the outcomes. You can only control the process and you do have to plan from quite a long way out. A lot of things in normal business you can put to the back burner. You don't necessarily have to do it right now. Whereas, you know, we will start the season on August the 8th. We need a team that are capable and the games then come thick and fast and you have to have a kind of crystal ball and try and prepare for it in the best way that you can.

9:11And of course, you've got a lot of stakeholders at a football club. You know, you need to keep everybody on side. Everybody talks about our fans, you know, and obviously the displays and all these kind of things are great, but what's more important is that they stick with you, you know, through the tough times. So it's getting all of these kind of constituent parts to point in the right direction all of the time, if you can, through the good and the bad times. And of course, you know, that is a big challenge. Let's talk about those stakeholders, the different constituent parts, you know, starting with the players, the talent and how you recruit it.

9:46I mean, Crystal Palace has an incredible legacy of homegrown talent. Famously, Wilford Zaha grew up so close to Selhurst Park. You can see the floodlights from his childhood bedroom. South London has got one of the greatest catchment areas. Some call it Concrete Catalonia, this area. Just a stream of football. There's Nathaniel Klein, Victor Moses, Aaron Wan-Bissaka. How do you explain it? This concentration of talent all across South London. It's a little bit like Palace or like Texas just sitting on an oil field. Well, I think first of all, it's just a cultural melting pot. You know, it's a huge number of nationalities and backgrounds from different parts of the world that have come and settled.

10:26to make it a kind of uniquely cosmopolitan. And there's obviously just a high density of kids. You know, there's just a lot of young people, 2.8 million people just in South London. You know, and then that doesn't extend to the wider boroughs. So, you know, there's a lot of talent here, you know, harnessing it and making that jump to the Premier League isn't without its challenges and it's getting harder. The level of the Premier League is going up and it's getting more and more difficult as the Premier League brings in more and more global talent. You know, you saw last night a Crystal Palace to have Spanish internationals, Colombian internationals, Japanese internationals.

11:00I mean, it's really pinch yourself stuff. American internationals. American internationals with Chris, of course, very, very important to us. And it's just an incredible thing, but it does mean the challenges are greater for the young players, which is why we've built a world-class facility with world-class coaches. And we're doing everything we can to drive more local kids, because obviously, you know, that's what the fans want to see. so you know we're doing everything we can to keep that lineage going and to make sure that there's local representation in the team as much as we can you've also recruited incredibly shrewdly i believe palace has like 29 data leg questions for each recruit you are heavily involved let's use someone singular as an example january 2021 you signed a frenchman named jean-philippe mateta for mites initially on loan first two and a half years yielded just eight goals but since then he's blossomed into the barreling potent corner flag assassin that we know and love him as 43 goals in the last two and a half years even just made his debut for that completely stacked french national team how did you know that mateta had this possibility in him you ended up paying i think 17 million dollars for him and what did crystal palace do to unlock his potential i mean i think we are a team where you know we're buying rough diamonds you know we're buying talent that there's something there.

12:17I mean, he certainly achieved at Mainz. You know, he'd scored good goals. He fought his way up. He is an incredible professional. I mean, he works so hard at his game every day. The positivity that you see on the pitch is him around the training ground every single day. So his positive mental attitude as much as anything is what's made him a success. Also, it's a great place to grow. You know, the fans are really forgiving. If you put the effort in if you put a shift in but things aren't particularly going your way you're not going to get a hard time there you know the fans are going to stick with you they're going to give you a lot of love he gives them a lot of love back and obviously we've had great coaches and with all of those ingredients you know he's developed himself into the player that he is with obviously some help from the club so and a lot of credit has to go to the recruitment department you know in finding him and sticking with him you know he's had some fallow periods here, some difficult periods here, but that's what we've got to be all about as a club.

13:13You know, if we're going to outperform, we can't go and buy the ready-made thing all the time. That's just not where we're going to be. We have to be a place where talent comes and it grows and it develops and it improves. And then we can get these moments in time, perhaps, where, you know, you've got a Michael Alessian and Eberties and a Jean-Philippe Mateta all in one team at one time. Unfortunately, you know, Michael had a bit of an injury this season. We did have everybody together. but you know if we can do that again you know who knows what we can achieve you talk about rough diamonds there's another gentleman 21 year old we just had him on the show i mean he's a visionary midfielder progressive midfielder adam watson came from blackburn for 24 million dollars in january 2024 i mean he is a a singular footballer he's not the fastest but his brain works at speeds that other people can't compute how did you know that he can make the step up from the championship to the Premier League because it is a huge league.

14:08When we were scouting him, he played one game against Chelsea in the cup competition. And that was a pivotal game for us to watch. So we sent, I think we sent three people to watch it. We analysed all the videos. The attribute that he had that was most striking was the desire to go and stand in the traffic and receive the ball. So instead of trying to find space, as maybe you would think that players always want to do he would almost deliberately go and find the players and stand surrounded by three Chelsea players because his thing is if you give ball this is three players I'm going to take out of the picture with the next pass or the next the next movement you know there were lots of other things the scouts looked at but that was incredibly striking the other thing in that game was his tenacity I think there's something in Adam and there's an interesting thing we've been talking about you know he came through the Blackburn Academy if you play Blackburn and I don't want to get into kind of northern stereotypes but you are going to get a tough game right i mean these guys they they come to play you know and if you're going to play for blackburn you're going to fight and you're going to battle for the ball and you're going to win your headers and that was on display as well in all the clips that that we saw of him so look if we say to you we absolutely knew that he would be you know what he's given to us of course not you know nobody can predict that but we certainly thought we had a good chance once again the rest is up to him you know you have to have a mentality where you can come and you can perform on the bigger stage and in the end as i say you know the manager and the players that win football matches and winners the cup you know and these guys are incredible and the fact that we were able to spot that and and take a kind of opportune moment in january where maybe there weren't too many people that in a position to buy was obviously our good fortune can you test for that the up to him quality i don't mean for adam Warton per se but like when you are surveying video you know and when you are looking at the data you said the same with Jean-Philippe Mateta it was up to him it was what he did his mentality can you test for that I think the really good scouts are looking at a lot of things around the player how they warm up maybe how they arrive at the stadium you know how they interact with people there's more of an opportunity to find out more about the person you know again it's an inexact science but you've met Adam he's a singularly unique person and I think possibly you know there are some things that people might have tried to coach out of him they might have tried to say oh you're not running around and you're not doing this you're not doing that it's down to him you know he decided that this is the way I see the game you know this is the way I want to play the game and he's turned himself into just an incredible footballer and he's obviously he's helped us and his teammates to outperform, which is incredible.

16:51Palace have had a stream of footballers who have just made the faithful's heart soar. And then there's a moment where they do get sold on. This is football. Eberichi Eze to Arsenal for 80 million. Michael Alisse, Bayern Munich, 61 million. Aaron Wan-Versaka to Manchester United, 64 million. We once had Edwin van der Saran when he was CEO of Ajax. I think they just sold Frankie de Jong to Barcelona, De Ligt to Juventus. and I asked him, I was like, does it make you feel sad that day when these great players leave? And he laughed at me. He's like, no. Essentially, his point was, I do like the piles of cash that come in return.

17:28That's what our business is. Do you ache when you lose a player or is it just football is inevitably a food chain and clubs have to understand their place in it? I'm not sure about the last part, but I do think that everybody needs a new challenge. It's a short career, isn't it, being a footballer? and people want to achieve different things in different places. And I agree with Frankie, we need to trade. We do. If we've got a turnover of just under 200 and we compete with teams, we've got a turnover of 600, 700. The only way we're going to really be able to achieve anything is to turn the tables and to get really young, value-appreciating talent, utilise it at the peak for a while, sell them on when they're at that peak.

18:12And then that defines a pathway for players to want to come to you. this is probably the most positive thing about it for the football club you know if you want to bring the very best brightest talents in to develop they need to know that you know there's a pathway for them onto that and also on a personal level you know michael and um ebbs for example you know they're two really really really outstanding people genuinely i mean they were best mates you know they were tired at the hip but if you went to the training ground i mean you couldn't separate on any given day. They were competing on every table, tennis, chess, everything, every single day.

18:51Wow. Send them on his way. They were like a, you know, Morecambe and Wise of football. They were so funny, the pair of them. But they're great guys, you know, and we all wish him at the absolute best. He went at a time of his career where he really should go. He's playing for the league title. He's playing for Champions League. You know, and that's what we hope to deliver as a club for now. Maybe one day that changes. Maybe one day it's us. Maybe one day we're the destination. But right now we realise we're probably part of the journey for some of these guys. I don't feel anything other than love for him.

19:23I mean, he scored in the quarterfinal, the semifinal and the final. And extraordinary goals as well. Out of nothing when all those games were in the balance. Nobody has given more. You know, Wilfred, him, given more to a football club. So we're really pleased for him. From players to football management. Do you know any managers you've had here? Eleven. Okay. Ten gentlemen. Roy Hodgson in there twice, like a footballing groove of Cleveland. He had long tenures. Neil Warnock, Alan Pardew, Sam Allardyce. Some who weren't culture fits. Famously, Frank DeBoer. 77 days. Are there common traits of good managers that work here?

20:01Or is it like that quote, all happy families are alike. Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. All of those people that you mentioned are fantastic people. I've enjoyed working with every single one of them and they've all brought in good people. And I think that's something that we survive and we thrive on in the difficult moments. You know, we've got a great group at the training ground, great management team, great coaches. And the people at the top of each part of the organisation, if they're not right, that can be very, very problematic long term because they'll bring in other people that aren't right.

20:33The place gets political, perhaps. you know everybody's not pointing in the same direction they're worried more about themselves than they are about the organization you know football clubs are such important things and they are quite fragile and they're important in so many ways to communities and to obviously all the staff here you know they're much they transcend don't they a business you know they're so much bigger and you really need to keep your ethos your culture and try and develop on it and not go backwards and every one of those guys was a great guy every one of those guys brought in great people every one of those guys knew more about football than anybody else at the time that was at the club they all helped us either survive or grow or get to a final that's the number one recruitment point for us anybody in the senior position at the club it is the manager the manager you've got to be a great person we can't all be working against each other at this football club we don't have the resources to do that we don't have the money to buy ourselves you know out of trouble so that's the starting point and then obviously the game is getting more and more technical more and more data involved not just in the recruitment but you know in the way that we play you know the way that the opposition plays you know what's required of the individual players and the talent there's just so much more to it for managers to manage and so you're looking first of all for the character the person what's it going to be like in the difficult times and then of course you know competency and ideas and adaptability obviously to situations as well So I want to look at this moment and how it began.

22:03I mean, there's a time of challenge, 2023, a winless run of four games. Two months later, Roy had to step down after a health scare. Palace are in 15th place. First up, how do you go about finding the next manager, Steve? When do you actually start the search? Did you permanently have options on your desk, even when things are good? Are you constantly thinking about that next move? Of course, you're keeping an eye on people. In that situation, Roy had already said to me that he wasn't going to carry on at the end of the year. So that was a helpful decision because it meant that we did start looking.

22:37And sometime in November, I sat down with Oliver. I think we had a dinner at my place over four hours and videos of his Frankfurt teams and his other teams. And I mean, just such an impressive conversation. And obviously the things he'd achieved were incredible. You know, from winning in the Nou Camp to winning the Europa League, taking Wolfsburg into the Champions League. You know, such an incredible track record. And there he was with no, you know, no job. He hadn't had a job in a year, right? That was kind of the only negative. You know, you've got all the colours and all the sizes, have you?

23:10They're not exactly all the rage. You know, it's kind of that. So the only question mark really for us was, did we have the tools to give him to be successful? and actually that's what led to the signing of Adam Wharton in the January and the way that Oliver wanted to play, it required a very fast forward passing execution in midfield and we felt that we needed to improve in that area and that was one of the big reasons as well that drove us towards a player like Adam and then getting Adam. So in that instance, you know, we can post-rationalise it and it all sounds, you know, pretty impressive, doesn't it?

23:46You know, of course, it can go wrong, right? But that was the thinking, and so it was. You did have a number of options. You constantly have a rolling number of potential candidates. But the Brighton CEO came on here and said, the day you start looking for your next manager is the day you hire your new manager. How does it work for you? You're all in with the manager you've got, obviously. Our ex, Roy, saying that he was going, we probably wouldn't have gone into a process like that. but it's not to say that you're interested in football right you're keeping an eye on managers around the world and what they're achieving and you know but you're not going to see them and talking to them obviously because you know you've got a coach and it's an eggshell a football club you know you need a very stable situation and of course particularly where we stand today you know we're a thousand percent behind factually the most successful manager and coach we've ever had and somebody who's absolutely brilliant to work with but in that instance because Roy said he was going to go we were we were looking and what was it he hadn't been in work for a year he had thrived at Eintracht Frankfurt he had led them to a trophy but like you did have other options what was it about that man in that moment you're right now we look at him oh my god what a genius move but in that moment at that dinner when you left what was it was it a gut Steve that you left and felt yeah this is our man or was there something else that helps you with that decision point so in the 15 years i've been doing this i've had countless managers that i've spoken to that have said i think you can do better than you're doing you know i think we can push for i think we can win things is that annoying you know was that inspiring not at all it's just it's easy to say i've got a deal in a kind of reality of okay this is what we've got to do that with do I really believe that we can do that play in that style with with what we've got thanks to the recruitment and Dougie and the team and all the work that we've done leading up to that you know I felt that we were in a situation where we did have a talent level that was capable of more and in the end there have been a few moments that I've been at the club where I just make the decision on the basis I've never I don't want to die at wandering The January when we were in the Championship, you know, money was tight, but we were there or thereabouts.

26:06We had a good chance of getting promotion. And that was a moment where I was, I don't want to die of wondering. Let's try and do some of the things that Ian wants to do. Let's not look back and think that if only we did this, you know, we'd probably be in the Premier League. Ripple dissolved forward, we're in the Premier League. We've got four points from 11 games. Steve Claridge, I remember, is in the commentary box. and he's telling me we were 11 to 1 on to get relegated. And, you know, and I said, I think we'll stay up. And he was kind of, you know, bantering with me, you know, in a positive way.

26:37You know, we got to the January and I thought I'd seen enough. I didn't think we were that far away. Do we want to go back to the championship, spend another 10 years trying to get re-promoted? What do I want to do? What am I going to regret the most? Am I going to regret not trying or trying? So he decided I'm going to regret not trying much more. And I think that was a moment really with Oliver. I just felt, look, if ever we are going to play more on the front foot, if ever we're going to change our playing style, this is the moment. And I think this maybe is the guy that can do it. And his enthusiasm and his love for football and his love for winning, not in a cynical way, but in a really beautiful way.

27:16He just loves to win football matches. He loves to work out a way to win football matches. And he doesn't believe in almost any circumstance that you can't win a football match. Leading up to the FA Cup semi-final, quarter-final, semi-final, I don't know where we were, but we went out of the League Cup to Arsenal away. And he was so frustrated. We lost 3-2 because he felt that the players didn't quite believe that they were going to win there that day. And that that was, you know, what we had to try and break through. And he will tell you that those moments were some of the most important moments on the journey to winning the FA Cup.

27:55In the end, I just thought, this is the moment. Either we try this or we're never going to try it. We're always going to be a low block, 10th to 14th team. That's what we're going to be. Is that how I want to leave this place? Is that what I want to be remembered for? I mean, it's amazing. I think everyone probably once on their tombstone did not die wondering. It's now my life goal. You didn't die wondering. But at the beginning of last season, Palace lost Michael Alisse to Bayern. You lost Joachim Anderson to Fulham for 34 million. A lot of analysts worried that you'd struggle without those two quite totemic players.

28:32Instead, we know the story. Palace sword, you played stunningly organised football with a ferocious identity, that whip-smart counter. You've led this team for 15 years. This was the most points you earned in the Premier League. You watch every game. In your own words, what went right? Everything clicks, I think. And it's hard. it is hard you know running it and it's not going down a coal mine hard you know I understand that but it's challenging right and you need people to come and lift you sometimes right they need people to come along and you know when Dougie came in that was a real moment he believed in a bit more of the impossible and we can do this and we can do that he brought a fresh energy to the club and to me he was and yeah Dougie Friedman he's gone now you know but he was then and then other people along the way have done that as well you know Alan in his time and Sam but this moment you know it was Oliver you know Oliver came along and he just created a stronger belief system in everybody the defining moment for me of the difference that Oliver made and I'm not talking about to the club over the last year or so I'm talking about if you go back to when I first started supporting the team the semi-final the game's in the balance Ebbs scores an amazing goal we then get a penalty if you remember JP unbelievably reliable from the penalty spot, skims the outside of the post.

29:55It's 1-0 with Mr Penrott. Aston Villa are a very good team. You know, a big team. They've got incredible talent. In that moment, in my history of Crystal Palace, the fans would have had a big intake of breath. Everybody would have sunk a little bit. That transmits to the players. In the next 10 minutes, it's a little bit chaotic. Maybe they get one back. Then we're a little bit down again. Maybe they get a second one back. you know we make a valiant effort at the end but it's all to no avail too often that's been our story glorious failure yeah valiant failure yeah maybe even a bad refereeing decision in there so we can feel properly indignant about it you know injustice yeah injustice you know and and this is just not the mentality that the team the fans had or have got anymore obviously there's the journey to even get to the platform but the person that took us through that glass ceiling was Oliver Glasner and the players.

30:55And, you know, instead of sinking into our seats, instead of feeling that we, this was it, this is a bad moment, we then just scored the second, you know, 10 minutes later or whatever, and we go on to win the game 3-0. Before then, away at Doncaster, Ben Chilwell said to me in the dressing room, I think we're going to win this. He said, I was in the Leicester dressing room when we won the league. He said, and I can feel something special in this dressing room. Dean Henderson, who doesn't get enough of a mention, when I signed him, sat on the sofa and said to me, we're 100 % winning something if I come to this football club.