Angus is an experienced football journalist at Football FanCast, specialising in Premier League reporting, opinion writing and in-depth football analysis. Since graduating from Southampton Solent University in 2022, he has developed extensive experience covering the English game, producing thousands of articles across a wide range of clubs and competitions.  

Before joining Football FanCast, Angus led VAVEL's Brighton & Hove Albion department, gaining valuable experience in club-specific reporting and editorial leadership. He subsequently joined Football FanCast through Snack Media's academy, now part of Valnet, and has progressed into the publication's Opinions and Features team.
 

As one of Football FanCast's longest-serving writers, Angus has covered numerous major developments across the Premier League, combining breaking news experience with detailed features and considered opinions. His work draws on years of reporting to provide context behind performances, transfer activity and the wider issues shaping English football.

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has kept the faith with Pierre Sage after a rocky start to the season, and perhaps it was telling that the travelling Eagles faithful sang their new head coach's name after winning at Fulham on Wednesday.

17th in the Premier League and with Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool up next, there's no question that Sage is up against it, but his side are into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, and he remains convinced that his behind-the-scenes work will bear dividends down the line.

However, Parish and the decision-makers need to start making changes.

The latest on Pierre Sage's Crystal Palace future

Sage understands the position Crystal Palace are in: his side are underperforming at the start of a new era, and while a period of transition is understandable, the 47-year-old needs to start making progress.

Moving into the latter stages of the Carabao Cup has earned the French coach a reprieve, but he needs to raise the bar in the Premier League now, having lost back-to-back matches against Brighton & Hove Albion and Newcastle United.

No side have conceded more Premier League goals than the Eagles this term, whereas last year, they conceded only 51 across the year, joint-eighth in that tally.

Sage has lost Maxence Lacroix, with Marc Guehi also sold to Manchester City last winter, but Parish will not accept a tumble into the relegation zone, with Palace already on the precipice after seven games.

He has also been damaged by injuries to key players. Jean-Philippe Mateta has only started twice in the Premier League this season, while Ismaila Sarr has only played 20 minutes of football. Sage has recently confirmed the Senegalese winger will be out for the foreseeable future, until domestic action resumes after the November international break.

Let's hope Sage turns things round over the coming weeks, but if he fails to make the right progress, Palace may well turn to a more conservative manager in Sean Dyche.

Why Crystal Palace are considering Sean Dyche

When Glasner left Crystal Palace at the end of the 2025/26 season, he did so having won the Conference League, ensuring the south Londoners would play European football one year on.

Parish and his senior executives would not have thought that they would be considering a pragmatist such as Dyche only a couple of months into the campaign, but here we are.

Still, at the start of the week, it was confirmed that Dyche is the frontrunner to take the reins at Selhurst Park, should Sage be sacked. It's important to keep an open mind, but it is difficult to see how this wouldn't feel like a backwards step.

Experienced the former Burnley and Everton boss may be, he has been criticised for overly cautious tactics, pressing aggressively, but boasting a style better suited to escaping danger near the bottom of the table, rather than pushing for passage into Europe at the other end of the table.

Is Dyche the best coach out there? The managerial market is stock-full right now, and the Londoners might be better off turning their attention elsewhere.

Crystal Palace could appoint the new Oliver Glasner

Glasner is possibly the greatest manager in Crystal Palace's history, delivering multiple pieces of silverware for a club who had for so long been fortunate for stability in the Premier League.

Replacing him was never going to be easy, but if Sage isn't the man for the job, then Thomas Frank could be the ideal fallback, the Danish tactician currently out of work after being sacked by Tottenham Hotspur earlier in 2026.

Frank flattered to deceive with Spurs, but it's quite clear that that club's issues were far bigger than Frank, whose superlative work over seven years with Brentford established him as "one of the best", words taken from the mouth of Pep Guardiola.

The proof is in the pudding, and Frank fashioned Brentford into one of the most enviable outfits out there, self-sustainable and boasting a unique recruitment model which saw so many signings hit the bullseye.

The 4-2-3-1 manager is adaptable above all other tactical facets. Organised in offensive and when defending set-pieces and a desire to flood bodies centrally to create a compact, combative midfield make him a tailor-made fit at Selhurst Park, someone who will embrace the Dyche-like pragmatism when needed but still aims to create exciting attacking play.

In this, Frank could be shades of Glasner at the Eagles helm. Glasner is undeniably among the best managers in the world, winning trophies with Palace after leading Eintracht Frankfurt to the Europa League title, and while Frank isn't there yet, he is a sharp tactical mind and would still embrace the intense counter-attacking brand that led Glasner's system to immortality.