Pierre Sage’s Crystal Palace reign has been defined as much by politics off the pitch as problems on it. Around Selhurst Park there are conflicting views as to why the Frenchman’s time in charge has gone so wrong, so quickly.

Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at home to Newcastle United, – a result that eased the pressure on similarly beleaguered Matthias Jaissle – looks to have been the final nail in the coffin. The atmosphere was toxic, the fans had begun to turn – and the prevailing mood is that Sage has been badly let down by chairman Steve Parish and sporting director Matt Hobbs.

At the same time, others felt he was supported as much as possible. As one source pointed out, Palace tied down goalkeeper Dean Henderson to a new deal and crucially, managed to keep hold of Adam Wharton in a summer when he was widely expected to leave.

That was not entirely of the club’s own doing. The mega offers anticipated for Wharton did not materialise in a summer when he was a controversial omission from Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad. Liverpool cooled their interest, Manchester City prioritised Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi and Manchester United opted for Carlos Baleba.

A disastrous summer

Keeping Wharton was a coup – but little else went right. A long-term successor to Maxence Lacroix was never found after his move to Chelsea and Malick Fofana – who Sage desperately wanted after managing the winger at Lyon – ended up joining Sunderland in a last-minute U-turn on deadline day. In fact the void left by Marc Guehi’s January exit is still being felt – a gap Palace chose to plug with loan signings Axel Disasi, 18-year-old Honest Ahanor and Takehiro Tomiyasu, who has only been fit enough to start two games.

Hobbs arrived from Wolves with a big reputation for scouring the South American markets and finding bargain deals with the potential for high sell-ons, bringing with him a wealth of experience leaning on data at Molineux.

That expertise has not translated. £73m was spent on Dwight McNeil, Anan Khalaili, Quinten Timber and Zavier Gozo; only Sunderland and Bournemouth spent less this summer. Palace were having to row back on January missteps, selling Brennan Johnson at a £20m loss after just six months. Jorgen Strand Larsen has just four goals since his arrival from Wolves.

Losing faith that Sage can fix defence

Then there is the chaos at the other end of the pitch. When animal rights charity Peta recently described bald eagle mascot Phoenix as looking “frightened, disoriented and panicked”, they could very well have been talking about Palace’s back line.  

The 5-0 humiliation at Brighton left them with statistically the worst defence in the Premier League. The calamity of three goals conceded in 10 minutes against their biggest rivals was not seen as a one-off, but a recurring symptom of a back three that has struggled when Chris Richards has been forced to play in the middle. Disasi too has had a difficult start.

There were more positive signs in Europe against Besiktas and still Palace could not hold onto a lead against 10 men.

An impressive attitude

There has been a degree of sympathy with Sage, not least because he inherited difficult circumstances.

He began the season without an injured Jean-Philippe Mateta, who tried to rip up his contract by claiming the final year was invalid. Ismaila Sarr’s move to Liverpool then collapsed, leaving the Senegal forward devastated.

The manager’s attitude to coping with those challenges was seen as impressive. He is well-liked and while predecessor Oliver Glasner was popular but volatile, Sage is viewed as a much more easygoing character. He even kept on several of Glasner’s backroom team so as to cause as little disruption as possible.

But even positive results came with major caveats – victory at Craven Cottage was helped by Fulham’s disastrous defending and there was a dose of good fortune in the win over Glasner’s Nottingham Forest when Jefferson Lerma’s goal was allowed to stand despite an apparent handball.

Crystal Palace next manager candidates

Sage was never the board’s first choice. Their interest in Andoni Iraola towards the end of last season was well-documented before he replaced Arne Slot at Liverpool. Thomas Frank and Sean Dyche were also considered.

Both are in the frame to take over this time around, with Dyche the early frontrunner. Dyche has been out of work since leaving Nottingham Forest earlier this year, while Frank was sacked by Tottenham in January.

Read more

Kieran McKenna is also a candidate but left Ipswich in the summer with the aim of spending more time with his young family.

An approach for Victor Matos would mean paying Swansea considerable compensation for the remaining four years of his contract, just months after paying Lens around £4m to release Sage.

Just four months later, he is set to become one of the shortest-serving Palace managers in history after Frank de Boer and Sam Allardyce.