Soccer Football - FA Cup - Final - Crystal Palace v Manchester City - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - May 17, 2025 Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers
(Reuters) - Qualifying for the Europa League will help Crystal Palace attract a higher calibre of player but the Premier League club must aim for steady growth rather than risk everything on a crazy spending spree, manager Oliver Glasner said.
Palace's shock 1-0 victory over Manchester City in last week's FA Cup final earned them a first major trophy as well as a spot in Europe's second-tier club competition next season.
Club chairman Steve Parish said the squad would be strengthened to cope with the demands of European football, but Glasner warned against getting carried away.
"This club got promoted in 2013. Since then, this club always progressed," the Austrian told reporters ahead of Tuesday's game against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, where Palace are 12th.
"You can be a one-hit wonder – but then you are gone, so it just makes no sense.
"And that's why we said, our planning shouldn't be, 'now we play in Europe, so we do crazy things, and then everything collapses'. No, how is the pathway? We follow the pathway.
"We get a special reward – we can play in Europe – but we don't leave our pathway ...
"Now it's going really step-by-step, but maybe winning this trophy, playing internationally, also getting this experience, maybe getting a player we couldn't get if we don't play international football, this can help us making the next step."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
