Steve Cooper was the first manager to be credited with bringing some much-needed calm amid the chaos at Nottingham Forest.Only four years after the popular Welshman led the club to promotion from the Championship, before guiding them to safety following a summer that saw a remarkable tide of 21 new signings arrive, the fact that Oliver Glasner is the fifth different man to be handed the task of delivering exactly the same thing tells a significant story.He is the club’s fourth manager in the space of a year, which further underlines the desperate need for some stability. But could Glasner be the man to deliver it?Such bold statements must always be underpinned with some serious caveats. The average lifespan of a manager since Evangelos Marinakis became Forest’s majority owner in May 2017 is comfortably less than a year.Mark Warburton was in charge when the Greek shipping and media magnate first took over. The suggestion that Glasner, now the 11th permanent manager of the Marinakis era, might prove to be a long-term fix might not age well.Marinakis has hired 11 permanent managers since he took over in 2017 (Photo: Cameron Smith/Getty Images)Particularly given Glasner himself has a history of being an outspoken figure when it comes to his relationship with club hierarchies.Nuno Espirito Santo would testify to the consequences that come with publicly questioning the Forest ownership. The man who led Forest to a seventh-placed finish and back into Europe swiftly found himself out on his ear after suggesting, more than once, in press conferences that his relationship with Marinakis had deteriorated following the appointment of Edu as global head of football.His previous achievements did not provide him any protection as he became the first domino to fall amid a remarkable campaign that saw Nuno, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche all ushered out of the exit door, before Vitor Pereira arrived in February to lead Forest to safety from relegation.Pereira was popular in the Forest dressing room and among the supporters, with the Portuguese having gone about his task with a knack of fostering the kind of unity that had been the cornerstone of success under both Cooper and Nuno.But Marinakis is a man who is constantly looking for ways to strengthen and improve things at Forest.There is a ruthless element to that — Pereira discovered via email that his services were no longer required, just two minutes before a clause in his contract allowing either himself or the club to part company with the other expired. Neither the former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss nor those close to him saw his departure coming.But that was more of a reflection on the quality of the man replacing him than on Pereira. It was a cold but bold decision.Forest believe Glasner is somebody who can take Forest up a level again, and the characters of Marinakis and the Austrian might be more aligned than you might imagine.Forest’s statement announcing his appointment failed to mention the name of Crystal Palace, with the two clubs having had something of a turbulent relationship in recent years following Palace’s demotion to the Europa League last season over multi-club ownership rules, with Forest promoted to the Europa League in their place.But the Forest hierarchy are acutely aware of the scale of Glasner’s achievements at Selhurst Park.Glasner was the other name on a two-man shortlist for the job when Nuno was appointed in December 2023. The job the Austrian has done with Palace in the meantime has only raised his profile. An FA Cup win was followed by Conference League success last season; two significant pieces of silverware for a club where the trophy cabinet had previously been largely empty.He oversaw a 5-0 win over Aston Villa, which was the club’s biggest win of the Premier League era, and he also helped them to their highest top-flight points tally, of 49. When he announced that he would be leaving Palace at the end of his contract, the expectation within football would be that he would move on to much bigger things.Nuno led the club back into Europe (Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)The 51-year-old’s name was linked with clubs like Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur. At Forest, it is regarded as a coup that they have landed somebody of his calibre.Glasner was not shy about speaking up at Palace, of being critical of co-owner and chairman Steve Parish, but that was more regularly motivated by a perceived lack of backing in the transfer market; by the feeling he deserved more support after bringing success to the club.Their FA Cup win over Manchester City in May 2025 was the club’s first major piece of silverware — and Glasner had ambitions to take the club forward again.Glasner and Marinakis will share that sense of ambition at the City Ground. The Forest owner has been criticised for numerous things over the years, but one thing he cannot be accused of is failing to back his managers in the transfer market. Much of the £116million Forest will receive from Manchester City for Elliot Anderson is likely to be reinvested.Marinakis is a man with a serious level of ambition. He has long battled to establish a winning mentality at the City Ground, to a point where music was no longer played around the stadium after the final whistle at games unless Forest had won — with the notion being that there was nothing to celebrate unless they had.Forest spent something close to £200million again last summer to arm Nuno with a squad that would, in theory, be capable of facing the demands of a first return to the European stage in three decades. There will not be another 13 new additions this summer; the change in manager is unlikely to change the feeling that only four or five new faces are required.It is easy to make early predictions about when Glasner will become the next manager to leave the City Ground. History would suggest that if he does not bring success, that will be the inevitable outcome.But, during his time at Eintracht Frankfurt, with whom he won the Europa League, with Wolfsburg, where he helped to secure Champions League qualification, and with Palace, Glasner has proven he is capable of delivering when he is backed.Marinakis wants Forest to be competing for silverware; to be mixing consistently with the European elite. In Glasner, they have appointed a manager who knows how to achieve both.