Nottingham Forest hire Glasner as fifth coach in under a year
Nottingham Forest have appointed Oliver Glasner on a three-year contract, backing their owner's continued heavy spending to secure the lucrative European football revenues that the Premier League's competitive margins demand.
Oliver Glasner has signed a three-year contract to become Nottingham Forest’s head coach, marking the club’s fifth managerial appointment in less than 12 months. The Austrian replaces Vítor Pereira, who was sacked because the club’s hierarchy deemed the opportunity to hire Glasner too significant to pass up.
Forest’s rapid turnover at the helm contrasts with its underlying financial ambition under owner Evangelos Marinakis. Glasner revealed that a meeting over a seafood platter in Athens with the Greek shipping magnate sealed the deal. “I probably found one of the few people who is more ambitious than I am,” Glasner said.
That ambition is driven by the economic imperative of continental competition. After avoiding relegation and reaching the Europa League semi-finals last season, Forest are chasing the "sweet honey" of European football, a vital revenue stream for clubs operating outside the Premier League’s traditional elite. “These players felt the sweet honey of playing European football and this year it’s just butter – no honey – on the toast,” Glasner said.
Marinakis is backing that push with significant capital. Forest are pursuing Tottenham midfielder Lucas Bergvall as a club-record signing to replace Elliot Anderson, who was sold to Manchester City. The club is also close to signing Austrian midfielder Xaver Schlager on a free transfer from RB Leipzig, with Glasner hopeful at least two new arrivals will join the squad’s training camp in Portugal next week.
However, the constant managerial churn presents an operational risk. Glasner acknowledged the difficulty of implementing his system quickly at a club where stability has been elusive. “My personal history shows that what we are asking them to do – the habits we want them to do – it takes three to six months to see it for the first time,” he said. “I’m no magician.”
The 51-year-old, who won the FA Cup, Conference League and Community Shield during a two-year stint at Crystal Palace, attempted to frame the instability as a thing of the past. He compared football management to marriage, noting that while every club wants long-term consistency, the reality of the market often dictates otherwise. “We want to get stability and consistency because the owner and I are convinced that is the foundation for success,” he said. “We hope now that this is the starting point.”
Glasner dismissed any notion that moving to a club which assumed Palace’s place in the Europa League after Uefa expelled his former employer would damage his reputation. Instead, he pointed to the broader football economy, noting that former Palace players have since moved to Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Manchester City.
