Steve Parish has offered strong support for Pierre Sage, praising the Crystal Palace head coach’s early work despite an uneven start to his first Premier League campaign in charge. Speaking to The Athletic, the Palace chairman said the overall mood at the club remained positive after a summer of significant change.
Sage took over from Oliver Glasner, who guided the Eagles to three trophies: the FA Cup, the Community Shield and the Conference League. Palace have collected four points from their opening five Premier League matches, with one victory, while also recording wins in the Carabao Cup and Europa League.
Parish believes Sage has handled a demanding transition well. The chairman pointed to the number of Palace players involved at the World Cup and the late arrival of new signings as factors that complicated the beginning of the season. He also highlighted Sage’s efforts to settle into a new country, noting that the French coach is taking English lessons while his family remains largely in France.
Reports had suggested possible friction over the management of certain players, including Frenchman Jaydee Canvot, but Parish rejected that picture. He said Palace’s record after seven matches—three wins, three defeats and one draw—represented a respectable beginning and insisted that the club remained focused on working together and improving.
The chairman is also encouraged by the team’s performances. He said the players appear to be enjoying their football and that, although the system has remained the same, the style has changed noticeably under Sage. Parish singled out the display against Leeds as an excellent performance and said the coaching staff were continuing to learn more about the squad’s strengths and limitations.
With the international break approaching, Parish expressed confidence in the direction of travel. He credited Sage, his staff and the wider Palace group for managing a new coach, a disrupted pre-season and a sizeable number of new players, describing their work so far as remarkable.
