Nottingham Forest Appoints Oliver Glasner as Head Coach

Nottingham Forest have turned to serial European winner Oliver Glasner as their new head coach, handing the Austrian the keys to one of English football’s grand old clubs at a moment of simmering ambition – and no little controversy.

Glasner replaces Vitor Pereira, who was dismissed last week despite steering Forest to Premier League safety and a Europa League semi-final, where they fell to eventual winners Aston Villa. Survival and a deep European run usually buy time. At the City Ground, they bought a reset.

A serial winner walks through the door

Forest have not simply hired a coach with promise. They have hired a coach with medals.

Glasner arrives on the back of two glittering seasons in south London, where he guided Crystal Palace to an FA Cup triumph and then the Europa Conference League title, beating Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in May to secure the club’s first major European trophy. Those achievements followed his 2021-22 Europa League success with Eintracht Frankfurt, a historic night that ended the German club’s four-decade wait for major continental silverware.

The pattern is clear: give Glasner a platform and he finds a way to win in Europe’s knock-out trenches.

“I’m delighted to join Nottingham Forest as head coach,” he said. From his first talks with owner Evangelos Marinakis and the board, Glasner spoke of a “clear vision” and “complete trust and belief” in him and his staff to build a long-term future. The potential he sees in the squad, he added, was central to his decision.

Forest, he knows, are no ordinary mid-table project. “Nottingham Forest is a club with incredible prestige and history, a two-time European Champion with one of the most passionate fan bases in football,” he said, outlining an aim to build a team that can “take the club to the next level” and one the supporters can be proud of.

His first steps will be functional rather than glamorous: meet the players, assess the staff, set the tone in pre-season. But Glasner made one promise – he will “work tirelessly” to represent the club with pride and chase success on the pitch. He “can’t wait to get started.”

Marinakis sets the bar

If there was any doubt about the scale of Forest’s ambition, Marinakis removed it.

“In our discussions with Oliver, it was clear that we share the same vision, the same ambition and the same relentless desire to succeed,” the owner said. He praised Glasner’s track record of building “outstanding teams” and delivering success “against the strongest competition.”

Marinakis did not talk about consolidation. He talked about status.

“It has always been our goal to establish Nottingham Forest once again among the leading clubs in England and Europe,” he said. Competing is not enough. “Our ambition is to win, to challenge for major honours and to create a football club that our supporters can be proud of for many years to come.”

His verdict on Glasner was blunt and pointed: “Oliver is a winner.” Leadership, personality, and an attractive style of football were cited as the pillars behind the appointment. Marinakis is convinced he has found the man to lead Forest into what he called “this next chapter.”

A move laced with tension

Glasner’s arrival at the City Ground does not come in a vacuum. It lands in the middle of a fraught recent history between Forest and the club he has just left.

Last season, the two sides effectively went toe-to-toe for a Europa League spot off the pitch. UEFA eventually ruled that Forest, not Palace, would take a place in the competition, with the south London club excluded because former co-owner John Textor held a controlling interest in Lyon.

The decision ignited anger in the Holmesdale. During a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park on August 24, Palace fans unfurled a graphic banner aimed squarely at Marinakis. The Football Association charged the club with misconduct.

Palace were pushed down into the Conference League. Glasner responded by turning that demotion into a triumph, leading the club to that 1-0 final win over Rayo Vallecano and straight back into the Europa League for next season.

The irony is sharp. Palace will be in Europe again; Forest, after last term’s run, will not. The Austrian now swaps a team he has just re-established on the continental stage for one that has been abruptly knocked off it.

And in the carefully worded Forest statement announcing his arrival, there was another twist. His previous clubs Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt were name-checked. His trophy haul at Selhurst Park was highlighted. But Crystal Palace themselves were never mentioned.

In the modern game, such omissions rarely happen by accident.

A historic club, a demanding brief

For Glasner, the attraction is obvious. Forest’s name still carries the echo of Brian Clough, of back-to-back European Cups, of a club that once punched far above its weight on the biggest stage. The job now is to turn that echo into something more than nostalgia.

He inherits a squad that has already shown it can fight its way through a Premier League season and take on Europe’s elite in knock-out football. He also inherits an ownership that has just shown, with Pereira’s abrupt departure, how unforgiving the expectations will be.

Glasner has built European-winning sides in Frankfurt and south London. The question now is whether he can turn Forest’s history and Marinakis’ ambition into something tangible in the present – and whether the City Ground will once again host European nights that match the stories told about its past.