Oliver Glasner says Marinakis’ ambition convinced him to take Nottingham Forest job

Oliver Glasner said he wants to bring back the “sweet honey” of European football to Nottingham Forest and suggested the club’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, may be one of few people more ambitious than him. Glasner revealed talks with Marinakis over a seafood platter in Athens convinced him to become Forest’s fifth head coach in less than 12 months, the Austrian signing a three-year contract after a fruitful two years at Crystal Palace.

Glasner met the Forest squad on Monday, his first day, and said he is enthused by the scope for the club to grow after a season in which they avoided relegation and reached the Europa League semi-finals. Forest sacked Vítor Pereira because they felt the opportunity to appoint Glasner, out of work after leaving Selhurst Park, was too good to turn down. Glasner conceded Forest’s hierarchy were “very hard-working” in their efforts to appoint him. The 51-year-old, who won the FA Cup, Conference League and Community Shield at Palace, believes he can also exceed expectations at the City Ground, but underlined success will not happen overnight.

“My personal history shows that teams usually, what we are asking them to do – the habits we want them to do – it takes three to six months to see it for the first time,” he said. “I’m no magician … I didn’t find the button that players can press and all of sudden we win the Premier League. Our goal is to come closer and closer to European places. These players felt the sweet honey of playing European football and this year it’s just butter – no honey – on the toast. Hopefully next year it will be sweeter. If I had felt there was no potential any more, I wouldn’t have signed.”

Of his discussions with Marinakis in Greece, he said: “When we had talks, I probably found one of the few people who is more ambitious than I am … so I think we will challenge each other with ambition. Every Premier League club, owner, manager and player is ambitious, but that doesn’t automatically mean that you will win silverware. It doesn’t make sense to talk about [winning] silverware after three days. We are not talking about the end product when you don’t know the ingredients. We are now trying to find the ingredients and then hopefully with these ingredients we will get a great meal and then we will be successful.”

Glasner’s analogies were not confined to food at his unveiling, at which he spoke to the media for more than an hour. Asked about Forest’s need for stability, he said: “Nobody wants to get divorced … I don’t know how it is here in England but in Austria it [the divorce rate] is 50% … at the wedding, you would say ‘no, not us,’ but it happens. Every club wants the same manager for a decade, the same players for as long as possible, but it’s just not the real world. We want to get stability and consistency because the owner and I are convinced that is the foundation for success. We hope now that this is the starting point.”

Glasner said Forest’s rich history as two-time European champions helped entice him, but insisted they must look forward. “I see a lot of potential in this club and a lot of ambition in this club and then I thought: ‘Hey, probably you can do it again.’ But I can’t do it. I’m too weak for this. If I’m alone, I have no chance. But I know if we all stick together and all work in the same direction, then it’s possible – not [necessarily] again to win a trophy, I don’t know – but to succeed, to fulfil expectations, make people happy inside and outside the club. In the end that’s what I’m looking for. After the talks, I had the feeling this is the right place.”

He dismissed suggestions joining Forest, who assumed Palace’s place in the Europa League last season after Palace were expelled from the competition by Uefa, could ruin his legacy at his previous club. “What I know is that I’m really pleased and grateful to have been part of a wonderful journey and I think everybody involved would tell you the same,” Glasner said. “There are now [ex-Palace] players at Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Manchester City, Fulham … it is just part of football life.

“I gave 100% every single day for Crystal Palace because that is what everybody deserved. We definitely created memories and that is what I’m really proud of. We had a great time together and I’m still in touch with many of my former players; I texted Marc Guéhi on Monday because it was his birthday – and you see how focused he is? … He didn’t even know that I had signed for Forest.”