Thomas Frank could save Crystal Palace, but Tottenham leaves a warning

Crystal Palace are turning towards Thomas Frank to rescue their season. His Brentford record makes the appeal obvious. His Tottenham spell makes the decision harder.

Talks are in their closing stages, according to BBC Sport’s Sami Mokbel. If Palace get their man, they will be hiring a manager with a strong record of building a Premier League side, and something to prove after his last job.

Thomas Frank Crystal Palace: where the deal stands

Palace hope to complete a deal before players start returning from international duty next week, the BBC reports. The club looked at other options, including Sean Dyche and Toulouse boss Jens Berthel Askou, but Frank is the overwhelming favourite. Fulham are also understood to have taken an interest in recent weeks.

Football Insider reports that a verbal agreement is in place, with contracts for his backroom staff causing the delay. Nothing is official yet. Palace confirmed Pierre Sage’s sacking on Thursday, saying only that an update on a new manager would be provided “in due course”.

The fixture list is unforgiving. Palace go to Coventry on Saturday 21 November, host Real Sociedad in the Europa League five days later, then welcome Hull on 29 November.

The mess Frank would inherit

The numbers are grim. Palace are bottom of the Premier League with seven points from 10 games, the first time they have been bottom after a full round of fixtures since 2017. They have won only two league games, lost their last four in a row and conceded 24 goals, the most in the division.

Defending is the first thing he would have to fix. The BBC says Sage’s failure to make the team solid at the back was a key reason he lost his job. A 5-0 thrashing at Brighton in October summed up how fragile they had become.

There is also a rebuild to manage. The squad that won the FA Cup has been pulled apart, with Eberechi Eze and Marc Guéhi gone. Oliver Glasner, who delivered three trophies in two years, has gone too.

Then there is the workload. Palace are still in Europe, with one win from four Europa League games, and juggling that with a relegation fight is hard for any squad.

What Palace can take from his Brentford years

Frank built his name at Brentford. He became head coach in October 2018, won promotion in 2021 and guided the Bees to ninth in 2022-23. He did it on a modest budget, with a clear plan and a team that was hard to beat.

That is the kind of job Palace need now. They do not need a big-name project. They need organisation, a settled shape and a manager who gets the most out of what he has.

The Tottenham warning

Frank joined Tottenham in June 2025 and was sacked on 11 February 2026, less than eight months into the job.

That spell cannot simply be dismissed as the wrong club at the wrong time. Palace need an immediate improvement, whereas his reputation at Brentford was built over years. The question is how quickly he can establish the organisation Palace are hiring him to provide.

He did at least choose to take his time before returning, turning down the chance to take a job over the summer, according to the BBC.

My verdict on Thomas Frank and Crystal Palace

Appointing Frank would make sense. He is a credible choice who knows the league, knows how to set up a side that is hard to beat, and has done more with less before. Palace spoke to him in the summer before choosing Sage, so he has clearly been high on their list for a while.

The first job is simple to say and hard to do: stop conceding. If Frank can make Palace solid by Christmas, they would have a stronger platform to collect points, and with 28 league games still to play there is time. If the defending does not improve quickly, though, Tottenham’s warning will start to look very relevant at Selhurst Park.