Crystal Palace officially identify title-winning manager as Thomas Frank alternative

Pierre Sage is facing the sack at Crystal Palace today, with Thomas Frank the man to beat in the race for his job, but he’s not the only contender.

Palace have yet to announce Sage’s departure, but the murmurs are he will be shown his P45.

Pierre Sage on the brink as Thomas Frank leads race for Palace job

REUTERS/Lee Smith

Sunday’s 3-1 defeat by Liverpool put them bottom of the Premier League with seven points from 10 games, and it looks as though Palace’s patience has ran out.

The Standard says Palace were already discussing a change in September, and a clean sheet at Leeds helped buy Sage another chance as he beat Nottingham Forest in his next league game.

However, four straight league defeats later, that October afternoon is still the last time Palace picked up a point.

Frank was one of the men Palace looked at to succeed Oliver Glasner in the summer, and some reports suggest they spoke to him again after last Thursday’s draw with Hoffenheim.

Tottenham dismissed him in February, and he hasn’t taken another job since, so if Palace want him, there’s no other club to deal with.

That gives Palace a straightforward route if they decide Frank is their man, but the search has gone beyond familiar Premier League names.

One of the coaches they’re looking at was still in the Motherwell dugout in May.

Jens Berthel Askou emerges as a Crystal Palace candidate

Another Dane has caught Palace’s eye, with Sky Sports’ James Savundra reporting that Toulouse boss Jens Berthel Askou is a candidate for the job.

Former RB Leipzig manager Ole Werner, who left the German club in June, has also made the list.

It would certainly be a shock move to opt for a boss with no truly top level experience, but Askou’s rise is impressive. Motherwell hadn’t beaten Celtic for a decade and hadn’t qualified for Europe since 2022 – he changed both in one campaign last term.

They won at Ibrox as well, and by the time he left for France, he’d taken them to fourth in the Scottish Premiership.

The 44-year-old also won a Danish Super League title with FC Copenhagen just before joining Motherwell, adding to his appeal.

Askou was a centre-back for Norwich City as a player and had a spell on loan at Millwall, winning League One with the former, but coming back to England to manage a side in the Premier League would be a first for him.

Toulouse paid Motherwell compensation to hire Askou in May, and they’d be giving up their manager barely six months later.

Palace need a manager who can fix the defence fast

REUTERS/Hannah Mckay

Palace have let in 24 goals in 10 league games.

Leeds are the only side they’ve kept out, so it is easy to see why Askou’s work at Motherwell might appeal, as they had never kept more clean sheets in a season than they did under him.

The first question for Askou would be what he can fix with the players already there.

Maxence Lacroix left in the summer, and January reinforcements won’t help Palace through the next few games. Closing the gaps they leave when they press is a more immediate job.

Frank has four full impressive seasons of Premier League football behind him at Brentford, taking them as high as ninth with very limited resources.

There’s a reason that carries weight in a relegation scrap, and while Askou did that in Scotland, England’s top flight would be new territory for him.