What Oliver Glasner has said about Man Utd job as Crystal Palace play Macclesfield on BBC

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Oliver Glasner has been on the end of questions about the Manchester United job ahead of Crystal Palace's FA Cup tie at non-league Macclesfield. The Eagles begin the defence of the trophy at Moss Rose, live on BBC One, on Saturday lunchtime in one of the standout third-round ties.

As well as the Silkmen, who play in National League North, Glasner has also been fielding questions about another club in the region, after Ruben Amorim was fired by the Red Devils. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick are the leading contenders to take charge until the end of the season. The former is due to hold talks on Saturday.

However, Glasner is among the favourites to land the job in the summer, having done a superlative job at Selhurt Park. Asked about how he felt about the speculation in his pre-match press conference, the Austrian gave a cryptic reply, saying: "I am not allowed to bet. My contract has one paragraph that I am not allowed to bet. And I don’t look at it."

Pressed on whether people outside the game should bet on him getting the United job, he said with a smile: "I also cannot give insider information. That would also be breaking my contract. I am Crystal Palace manager and it makes no sense for you to ask more questions about it."

Another intriguing aspect of the speculation is that Glasner's Palace contract expires in the summer. Asked whether there would be more talks over a deal soon, he said: "In the next weeks, we will intensify the talks.

"We go up north and then everyone gets three days off after Macclesfield, then we have to target four regular weeks. In those weeks, I expect to find a final decision."

However, in light of the recent sackings in the Premier League , Glasner pointed out how contracts, even long-term ones, can count for little. He said: "You can sign a new contract, like managers did in the Premier League this year, and [now] they aren't the manager there any more.

"Even if I sign a new contract, you could ask me every day, 'What is the future?' There is one situation which keeps you in your job when you are a manager, and this is being successful. It is the only thing to survive [in] this job."

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Having lost key players like Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise - and with Marc Guehi likely to move on soon - Glasner may feel he has taken Palace as far as he can. However, while he is a strong candidate, the United hierarchy may have reservations about appointing another manager who prefers a back three.

Amorim's devotion to a 3-4-3 system contributed to his fallout with sporting director Jason Wilcox. Earlier this season, Glasner spoke warmly about Amorim and his tactical set-up.

He said: "It's really funny talking about the 3-4-3 system, and I think United have the highest xG in the Premier League for scoring goals.

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"Their team has changed, especially in attack. They needed more goals and invested £200m - buying three players up front. Also, now they have players who can play very intense like [Bryan] Mbeumo.

"For me, that's impressive to see. We compared it (their last meeting) to where they are now. I think their work rate is much higher than it was last year and then they get the reward."

He added: "We're playing the same system. So it looks like it's a good attacking system. Also, as we show it, you can have a good defensive structure with it. It's all about what you do with the system and how fluid you are in attack and how creative you are."

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