Matt Hobbs is the new Director of Football at Crystal Palace.
The Englishman is yet to be officially announced at Selhurst Park, but is understood to have already started his difficult task of replacing Dougie Freedman, who left to join Al-Diriyah in March.
Matt Hobbs boasts experience within a Premier League side having vacated a similar role at Wolves back in June – after a decade in various jobs at Molineux – and Luke Randall has now told Crystal Palace fans what to expect.
Exclusive: Wolves expert shares why Matt Hobbs is a good fit for Crystal Palace
The 45-year-old worked his way up at Molineux, starting as a Youth Scout in July 2015, becoming Chief Scout in May 2020 before landing the Director of Football role in November 2022.
When asked what Hobbs could bring to Crystal Palace, Randall told We Are Palace: “The one thing that sticks is his honesty. He’s open with fans and will tell you exactly how it is. I think one problem he had at Wolves was that Jorge Mendes is always lingering around, and he sometimes couldn’t place his full influence on transfers as a result.
“He didn’t get on too well with Vitor Pereira either and the Portuguese tactician has since brought his own man in (Domenico Teti) so, no real warning signs – more that he was brushed aside almost.”
One of the largest criticisms aimed at Hobbs by Wolves fans is the fact he handed Gary O’Neil a new four-year contract back in August 2024, before having to sack the man from Beckenham just months later in December 2024.
In fairness, the Londoner had only just guided Wolves to 14th and also the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, which led some to consider him the next big thing in management given the circumstances.
Randall continues: “One fault of his was the decision to hand O’Neil a new four-year deal at Wolves, which soon backfired. However, he wasn’t to know there was to be a fall from grace.
“There were also rumours he wanted to bring Hwang Hee-chan to Palace but that didn’t go through. He’s not quite shown anything this season (the South Korean has one goal in four Premier League appearances this term).
“He definitely has a good eye for a player though, having signed Matheus Cunha, Andre, Joao Gomes and, most recently, Emmanuel Agbadou.
“Quite fitting of Palace, he works really well in identifying gems and has good contacts in the Brazilian market, which could be brought with him to Selhurst Park.”
We Are Palace understand Hobbs is already working on a new contract for Glasner and hopes to strike an agreement with the Austrian before January.
Hwang Hee-chan deal could be revisited
As Randall mentioned, Crystal Palace have previously had a look at signing Hwang from Wolves, but no agreement materialised.
However, the South Korea international has only started two games out of four in the Premier League so far this season, and would have even fewer starts were it not for an injury to Jorgen Strand Larsen.
Despite signing Yeremy Pino and Christantus Uche, there remains a lack of quality attacking depth at Crystal Palace.
Glasner even joked about bringing Nathaniel Clyne on as a striker during the Carabao Cup win over Millwall, such were the lack of options on his bench.
With Hobbs now at Selhurst Park – the man who signed Hwang from RB Leipzig for £14m in January 2022 – we feel the chances of a move happening have only increased.
