'There was no plan for me to be Forest manager': Oliver Glasner denies Palace snub before Selhurst Park return

Oliver Glasner has moved to defuse any suggestion that his summer switch from Crystal Palace to Nottingham Forest was an act of provocation, laying out the story of his move in quotes published as The Guardian's Football Daily's quote of the day.

"It was not a decision against Crystal Palace, because I decided last October, one year ago, not to sign a new contract. It was then, in the summer, a decision for Nottingham Forest, due to different reasons. Sometimes unexpected things happen in life … there was no plan for me to be Forest manager."

The email reads the remarks as Glasner explaining that his move to the City Ground "was coincidental and not intended to add further rancour to the club's strained relationship" — a bid for peacemaking ahead of a fixture loaded with subtext, as the Austrian brings Forest to the club he left in the summer.

Palace's build-up has hardly been quiet. Goalkeeper Dean Henderson is "knacked" and out of the England reckoning, according to Football Daily, while manager Pierre Sage made Adam Wharton skipper for the club's friendly against Bristol City — which ended in a 2-0 defeat. The email cannot resist a gentle dig at the experiment: "Has there ever been a club captain more shy than the England midfielder? Answers on a postcard."

So the weekend's meeting at Selhurst Park arrives with a manager returning to explain himself, a new captain finding his voice, and a first-choice goalkeeper in the treatment room. Three weeks without a Premier League ball being kicked has solved very little — and, in Palace's case, may have added a few problems.