Oliver Glasner has been declared a genius for the job he has done at Crystal Palace over the past year. Last season, the club lifted a historic FA Cup trophy with a win over Manchester City. Then came the Community Shield title after victory over Liverpool. After 20 games, Palace are only five points behind the Europa League ticket in the Premier League. The German has been reported by several English media as a top candidate to take over the coaching job at Manchester United after the end of the season. On Saturday, Glasner and the reigning FA Cup champions cruised on after victory against amateur side Macclesfield.
It turned out to be a historic cup peel. The Guardian journalist Ed Aarons describes it as “one of the biggest FA Cup surprises ever”.
Macclesfield Town took the lead after 43 minutes, going into half-time with Crystal Palace players and Oliver Glasner in a state of shock. We’ve seen it before, where the mini-putts are screaming, but have to give up when the Premier League club grinds away at their defence. This did not happen in Cheshire this Saturday in January.
The final score was 2-1, i.e. victory for the National League North club, 6th division in England.
In the extra time, comical scenes unfolded. When the announced six minutes had been played, the home fans stormed the pitch – too soon. They thought the referee had called off the game, but the referee had blown the free kick. So they were forced to go back into the stands – before storming later when the referee had de facto called off the match.
It is the first time the amateur team has managed to qualify for the FA Cup, and the last time a debutant reached the fourth round, as Macclesfield have now done, was when Harlow Town did so in 1979/80 according to statistics company Squawka.
For potential future Manchester United manager Olvier Glasner, this will be a day he will never forget.
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We like that cup is cup, but a club like Palace with Glasner at the helm should not be able to lose against an amateur team.
