Ange Postecoglou SACKED by Nottingham Forest after just 39 days in charge – with 3-0 home defeat by Chelsea seeing Reds endure eight-game winless run
Ange Postecoglou was sacked by Nottingham Forest; It has been just 39 days since his appointment as manager and he has gone through eight winless games.
Forest lost 3-0 to Chelsea on Saturday lunchtime, their sixth defeat of their short reign, and they sit 17th in the Premier League table.
The club has not won since the opening game of the season under the management of Nuno Espirito Santo, who was shown the door after two matches.
In a short statement released just 19 minutes after Chelsea’s full-time defeat, Forest said: ‘Nottingham Forest Football Club can confirm that Ange Postecoglou has been cleared of her duties as head coach with immediate effect, following a series of disappointing results and performances.
‘The club will have no further comment at this time.’
Postecoglou’s sacking after 39 days means he receives the unfortunate accolade of having the shortest reign of any Premier League permanent boss to leave the club in a season.
Ange Postecoglou has been sacked as Nottingham Forest manager after just 39 days
Forest lost six of the Australian’s eight matches in charge after replacing Nuno Espirito Santo (pictured – Postecoglou leaving the City Ground shortly after his sacking was announced)
The 3-0 home defeat by Chelsea on Saturday was the final straw for Postecoglou.
Postecoglou attempted to implement a more attacking style of play compared to the Nuno era, but his tenure began with defeat at Arsenal, followed by an embarrassing 3-2 Carabao Cup defeat at Swansea that resulted in a two-goal deficit.
This month’s Europa League defeat by Midtjylland at the City Ground in front of owner Evangelos Marinakis has seen the home fans turn their backs on Postecoglou and – following defeats at Newcastle and now Chelsea – Marinakis has now taken the axe.
The writing appeared to be on the wall when reports emerged last week that new names had been named by the Forest owner.
Postecoglou also revealed before the match that he had not met with Marinakis during the international break, despite saying he expected to do so following their defeat to Newcastle.
Marinakis left his seat at the City Ground midway through the second half of Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat.
Postecoglou was sacked by Tottenham despite leading the club to the Europa League title because Spurs bosses deemed the club’s 17th-place finish in the Premier League unacceptable.
The 60-year-old’s main aim at Forest was to win a second consecutive Europa League title; this would guarantee a place in next season’s Champions League.
On Friday Postecoglou began passionately defending his position, saying: ‘I think from my point of view I don’t fit into it. Not here. Generally. If you look at it from this perspective: I’m a failed manager who’s lucky to get this job – I know you’re grinning at me and that’s what’s being said and I can find pressure where it’s being said – then of course it looks like this manager is under pressure.
Team owner Evangelos Marinakis decided to leave his seat before the end of the Chelsea match
An embarrassing defeat at Swansea, with Forest leading 2-0, was an early sign of trouble
Fans turn to Postecoglou after defeat to Midtjyyland in the Europa League this month
‘I took over Spurs, who finished eighth. There is no European football. It is too big a club to survive two years without European football. We came fifth in my first year. And every time Harry Kane scores, I wish he’d stayed another year. It would have been handy to have him after finishing fifth.’
Postecoglou continued: ‘But somehow that year disappeared from the record books. It was even used as a reason for me to lose my job because even Tottenham had decided to exclude the first 10 games as an anomaly. Although the first 10 matches seem very important here.
‘We finished fifth and I got them back into European football, which is where Tottenham should be. I was in meetings and people who were still at that club were in meetings where I was told that winning trophies is everything for a football club. No problem.
‘We won the cup. We have shed the ‘Spursy’ tag. Champions League football brings some rewards, it brings the opportunity to bring in better players. But the only thing I’ve heard since I left Tottenham is that I finished 17th last year.
‘Perhaps I am a manager for whom, given time, the story always ends the same. ‘At all my previous clubs the result was the same: a cup for me.’
But Forest, who are likely to give way to a more conservative style of play, have been reluctant to wait for this to play out.
