To the dugout
Ever-looking to widen his horizons, Glasner went to university to complete a Diplomkaufmann – an MBA or Masters of Business Administration – as a player, and upon his retirement was hired by Red Bull Salzburg as a management assistant.
His destiny was out on the grass, however, and he asked then Director of Football Ralf Rangnick for an opportunity to coach. He was duly appointed assistant manager at the club, finishing a successful two-year tenure as Austrian champion.
Rather than heading to Bayer Leverkusen with the rest of the backroom staff, he instead looked to branch out on his own and took over at SV Ried for the 2014/15 season, before joining LASK as both Director of Sport and Head Coach ahead of 2015/16.
It was an instant success, winning first promotion and then finishing fourth in the league to take them to their first European campaign since 2000. After being knocked out of the Europa League by Manchester United, a second-place finish in 2019 earned them the right to compete in the Champions League qualifiers – but Glasner was poached before they would take place.
Leader of the pack
Joining Wolfsburg, Glasner repeated his European success, first finishing seventh and qualifying for the Europa League, before subsequently finishing fourth and making it to the Champions League, in turn earning the third-highest points total in the club’s history.
His tactical variation, often switching between a back-three and a back-four, made his side hard to play against, and he finished his tenure at the club having earned 1.67 points per game, the fourth-highest average of any manager in the club’s history to take charge of more than 50 games.
Glasner’s methods caught the attention of German journalist Isabella Müller-Reinhardt, whose book Mensch Trainer, focused on the personal side of successful football managers. In a far-reaching interview, Glasner focused on the need for honesty and integrity in a manager:
“The most important thing is to be authentic,” he explained, discussing his thought process before meeting a new squad for the first time. “Players have fine antennae and would immediately be able to sense if I was trying to portray myself as something I’m not. What I say to the players, I mean.
“It means the players know they can trust me. I also reciprocate that trust with the players and don’t want to control everything. That’s new and unusual for a lot of people in the team.”
