Oliver Glasner sat in front of the press at the City Ground with a red face – not from embarrassment, but from the sun during Tuesday's training session. If that is the worst thing to happen to him over the next 12 months, the new Nottingham Forest boss will have had a successful season. But with Forest's history of managerial upheaval, the affable Austrian is under no illusions. He is the club's fifth head coach in less than a year, following the departures of Nuno Espírito Santo, Ange Postecoglou (sacked after 39 days), Sean Dyche (114 days) and Vítor Pereira, who was told he was dismissed just two minutes before a clause allowing Forest to terminate his deal expired in June. "Nobody wants to get divorced," said Glasner, who signed a three-year contract. "Every single club wants to have the same manager for a decade, but that's just not the real world."
Glasner's appointment, announced after a seafood platter with owner Evangelos Marinakis in Athens, is a deliberate attempt to break the cycle. "I probably found one of the few people who is more ambitious than I am," Glasner said. Having guided Crystal Palace to the FA Cup, Europa Conference League and Community Shield in the past two seasons before standing down in May, he arrives with the winning pedigree Marinakis demands. He wants to bring back the "sweet honey" of European football to the City Ground, after Forest reached the Europa League semi-finals last season.
“Oliver Glasner becomes Nottingham Forest's fifth manager in a year, vowing to bring stability.”
But Glasner warned success will take time. "I'm no magician," he said. "These players felt the sweet honey of playing European football and this year it's just butter – no honey – on the toast. Hopefully, next year it will be sweeter." His first Premier League game in charge is at home to Leeds on 22 August. Before that, Forest are pushing to make Tottenham's Lucas Bergvall their club-record signing, having sold Elliot Anderson to Manchester City, while Xaver Schlager is close to joining on a free after leaving RB Leipzig. Glasner hopes to have at least two new signings for next week's Portugal training camp. With an LMA study showing the average tenure of sacked Premier League managers is now less than a year, the question is whether Glasner can be the one to finally provide the stability the club craves.
