Glasner returns to Crystal Palace as Nottingham Forest manager

Summarised from 3 outlets · Updated 9 Oct, 08:08 · Archive

Oliver Glasner returns to Crystal Palace on Sunday to manage Nottingham Forest, the club he joined after winning the Conference League with Palace in May.

Oliver Glasner will return to Crystal Palace on Sunday for the first time since departing as manager in the summer, now in charge of Nottingham Forest. The Austrian led Palace to unprecedented success, winning the FA Cup at Wembley last year and clinching the Conference League in Leipzig in May, before joining Forest just 40 days later.

The reunion is charged with tension. Forest were elevated to the Europa League at Palace's expense after complaining to Uefa about a breach of its multi-club ownership rules. Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is currently suing Palace at the High Court following a controversial banner displayed by Palace supporters at Selhurst Park when the clubs last met in the Premier League.

Glasner has acknowledged the emotional complexity of the fixture. Speaking at Forest's training base, he said: "Two hearts are beating in my chest," alluding to a line from Goethe's Faust to explain his feelings about facing his previous club. "Here is a little bit similar, because we had a little bit more than two great years at Palace." He accepted that he knows he will be booed but said: "I don't want to be in the middle of all the comments and the stories about this game."

Daniel Munoz, another former Palace player, is now at Forest, further heightening the sense that Palace's successful period has been dismantled. For Palace supporters, losing their most successful manager to a rival club that displaced them in European competition compounds the bitterness.

Glasner has worked to replicate the successful 3-4-2-1 system he used at Palace at Forest, with the two central midfielders functioning as what he calls "quarterbacks". At Palace, Adam Wharton played this role; at Forest, Glasner has repositioned James McAtee, a £30 million signing from Manchester City who started just two Premier League games last season, to operate much deeper in midfield than his previous attacking role.

How it is being reported

• How Glasner turned McAtee into his new WhartonWhen Oliver Glasner moved to Nottingham Forest after departing Crystal Palace, he tasked himself with replicating the 3-4-2-1 system that worked so well at Selhurst Park.Sky Sports · 9 Oct, 08:06
• Oliver Glasner's battle plan for fractious Crystal Palace return: The three players key to taking down old club, what he's improved from last two Nottingham Forest managers and the targets new bosses have set for himThis is it, then. The big one. Whichever way you look at it, however many times Oliver Glasner says it's just another game, everyone at Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest knows it is anything but.Daily Mail Sport · 9 Oct, 08:00
• Oliver Glasner: ‘There was no plan for me to be Nottingham Forest manager’On Sunday, Austrian returns to Crystal Palace, the club he left in the summer after leading them to unprecedented success, but accepts there could be ‘booing’ Oliver Glasner puffs his cheeks and starts the search for the right words to explain his emotions as he prepares to return to Crystal Palace for the first time since leaving. There is the small matter of heading back on Sunday with Nottingham Forest to Selhurst Park, where bitterness runs deep over the club seizing Palace’s place in the Europa League last season. Forest’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, is suing Palace for defamation…Guardian Sport · 9 Oct, 08:00

In this story: Oliver Glasner · Crystal Palace · Nottingham Forest · Evangelos Marinakis · Selhurst Park · James McAtee · Adam Wharton · Daniel Munoz

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