Evangelos Marinakis ambition key to Oliver Glasner’s Nottingham Forest switch
By Sunny Badwal, Press Association
Oliver Glasner pointed to “very ambitious” owner Evangelos Marinakis as the main reason he left Crystal Palace to join fellow Premier League side Nottingham Forest.
The 51-year-old was appointed on a three-year deal at the beginning of July after he spent the last two years at Selhurst Park.
Glasner met with Marinakis in Athens, where the pair went for dinner and the Austrian understood his ambition which attracted him to the City Ground.
Many clubs were linked with Glasner but he stated he always wanted to stay in England and said Marinakis was one of the few people more ambitious than himself.
Speaking in an introductory press conference which went on for more than an hour, he said: “My goal was to mainly stay in the Premier League. I had great talks with the owner, I went to Athens for a dinner. We talked about the vision for the club, the ambition.
“Last season they were trying not to get relegated but the year before they got close to qualifying for the Champions League.
“There is a lot of potential in the squad, very ambitious ownership. I thought this could be a quite interesting and exciting journey.
“When we had talks, it was like probably I found one of the few persons who is more ambitious than I am. So I think we will challenge each other with ambition, for me the difference is being ambitious.”
Nottingham Forest had four managers last season as Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche and Vitor Pereira all came and went.
Glasner became the fifth manager to take the position at Forest within the last 12 months and is hoping he can bring success the club, like he did at Palace by winning the FA Cup and Conference League.
Asked whether the the frequent sacking of managers at Forest was a worry, Glasner added: “It’s part of your job. On the other side, I don’t really think about this again.
“In football many things can happen, but I never sign and think about getting sacked. I just think what we have to do to bring success to the club.
“I’m telling you this is not to protect myself, it’s just what my personal history shows. We are asking (players to do) something differently to other managers.
“What we want them to do takes three to six months. I’m no magician.”
Forest and Palace developed a heated rivalry last year after the Reds took the Eagles’ spot in the Europa League when they were demoted to the Conference League, which they ended up winning.
Some Palace fans displayed anger at Glasner’s decision to swap clubs but he says he is ready to write a new chapter in his career.
He said: “(I had) more than two fantastic years at Palace, an amazing time there, otherwise it wouldn’t have been possible to win three trophies within two years.
“Now a new chapter begins, a new book is to be written.
“As a manager it’s also normal to sign for another club and hopefully, we can write history. It’s just part of football life.
“I really gave 100 per cent for Palace, because at that time every single one at Palace deserved it, I think it’s now that everybody here at Forest deserves 100 per cent.”
