Nottingham Forest have done it again. Just when you thought the circus might pack up and leave the City Ground, the ringmaster has brought in a new ac...
Nottingham Forest have done it again. Just when you thought the circus might pack up and leave the City Ground, the ringmaster has brought in a new act. Vítor Pereira is out, sacked after the club activated a break clause in his contract late on Tuesday night. And in his place Oliver Glasner, the former Crystal Palace manager who just picked up the Conference League trophy. This is managerial musical chairs of the highest order, and Forest are playing the tune.Let us be clear about the numbers because they are frankly staggering. Glasner will become the club's fifth head coach in less than a year. Five. In less than twelve months. It is a churn rate that would give even the most hardened owner pause, but for Evangelos Marinakis it appears to be business as usual. The break clause in Pereira's deal was always there, a ticking bomb for June, and the moment Glasner became available after leaving Palace, the hierarchy felt it was too good an opportunity to turn down. You can understand the logic, in a perverse sort of way. Glasner has European pedigree, he has shown tactical flexibility by adapting his preferred three at the back system, and he knows how to win a knockout competition. But does he know what he is walking intoThe real question is not whether Glasner is a good manager. He clearly is. He took Crystal Palace to the Conference League title, a feat that will go down in the club's history. The question is whether any manager can survive the relentless instability that now defines Nottingham Forest. This is a club that has changed its entire identity, its backroom staff, and its playing philosophy more times than most clubs do in a decade. The players will have to learn yet another set of demands, yet another tactical language. How much more can a squad, already stretched by the demands of survival, take before the wheels come offThere is a cruel irony here. Forest spent much of last season looking like a side that had finally found some solid ground. Pereira had them organised, if not always thrilling. They could defend in a low block, they could break with purpose. But it clearly was not enough. Marinakis wants more, he wants a name, he wants the cachet of a European winner in the dugout. And he has got it. But will Glasner be given the time to actually build something Or will he be the next man to get the bullet when the results do not instantly match the ambition Squeaky bum time is coming, and for Glasner, the clock starts ticking the moment he signs the contract.For the rest of the league, this is a fascinating subplot. Forest are no longer just a club fighting relegation; they are a club fighting their own nature. The revolving door has spun again. And as Glasner steps through it, he will know that in the volatile world of Nottingham Forest, every game is a job interview. Can he survive the chaos Or will he simply become the latest name on a very long list of those who tried and failed We are about to find out.
