Oliver Glasner has pushed back on any suggestion that his move to Nottingham Forest was aimed at Crystal Palace, saying he had already decided a year earlier not to extend his stay at his former club. “It was not a decision against Crystal Palace, because I decided last October, one year ago, not to sign a new contract,” he said.
Glasner separated the two decisions when explaining how he ended up at the City Ground. The call on his Crystal Palace future, in his account, came well before he left, while the move to Nottingham Forest followed on in the summer and stemmed from different reasons. “It was then, in the summer, a decision for Nottingham Forest, due to different reasons,” he said. “Sometimes unexpected things happen in life … there was no plan for me to be Forest manager.”
His comments land with the Premier League back in action this weekend after a three-week international break, and with Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest among the fixtures. The two clubs meet with a relationship that is already strained, and Glasner’s argument is that his own move was coincidental rather than intended to add further rancour to it.
The weekend’s other standout fixture sees Liverpool face Manchester City, a meeting that follows a quiet international break for both clubs with no significant developments on either side.