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Crystal Palace have dismissed Pierre Sage just 16 games into his ill-fated spell at Selhurst Park, making him the second Premier League manager to be shown the door following Michael Carrick's exit from Manchester United.
The breaking point came with Sunday's tepid 3–1 loss to Liverpool, which left the Eagles anchored to the bottom of the Premier League table heading into the November international break.
"Today, my job is not the most important thing," Sage stated shortly after Palace's seventh league defeat in 10 matches. "The most important thing is to find an efficient solution for the team and club." The club have determined that replacing Sage is precisely that solution.
It has been a grim season in south London. Following the two most successful campaigns in the club's history, Sage was unable to build on the foundations laid by Oliver Glasner. Even the rare victories Palace managed were tinged with good fortune, with their affable French coach notably offering his condolences to Fulham and Nottingham Forest, both of whom contrived to lose despite generating far more chances.
The November international break has become a familiar resting place for struggling managers, representing the last prolonged club pause before the relentless festive fixture schedule restricts any settling-in period for a new appointment. Several other Premier League clubs are also weighing up managerial changes—including a Manchester United side sitting just two positions above Palace—but it is the Eagles who acted first.
Thomas Frank the Frontrunner to Take Over
Former Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank is the primary candidate to take charge at Selhurst Park. Frank has been without a club since departing Spurs in February following a poor run of results that initially worsened in his absence. The thoughtful Dane thrived across the capital with Brentford, though it remains difficult to fully separate how much of that success stemmed from the west London club's structure rather than Frank's own abilities.
BBC Sport's Sami Mokbel reports that discussions between Palace and Frank are well advanced, narrowing down a search that had previously identified seven potential candidates, according to Sky Sports News.
Alongside Frank, fellow former Premier League manager Sean Dyche was also considered. Dyche carries a more no-nonsense reputation but has greater experience navigating relegation battles, having steered both Burnley and Everton to safety in the past. Vítor Pereira holds a comparable record with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest, while Frank Lampard is currently fighting his own battle against the drop with Coventry City.
Some of Palace's most astute signings in recent seasons have come from the Championship. Players such as Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton were all recruited from the second tier, and the club are believed to have looked at Middlesbrough's Kim Hellberg and Vítor Matos of Swansea City.
Australia national team manager Tony Popovic, who spent five years as a player at Crystal Palace in the early 2000s, was also reportedly among those considered.