Nottingham Forest sack Ange Postecoglou after just 39 days
Source: The i Paper
Sean Dyche is in the frame to replace Postecoglou after the Australian’s short reign ended with a 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea
CITY GROUND — Ange Postecoglou has been sacked by Nottingham Forest after less than two months in charge.
The Australian’s 39-day tenure – the second shortest in Premier League history – ended just 18 minutes after their 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea on Saturday afternoon.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had even left his seat 25 minutes before the match finished, and now the Greek will look to hire a third permanent manager of the season.
Postecoglou had himself replaced Nuno Espirito Santo, who fell out with Marinakis over the summer before being dismissed three games into the season, and now Sean Dyche is the frontrunner having been out of work since being sacked by Everton in January.
It is also believed Marinakis is a fan of Marco Silva, but having already paid off Nuno – and with a compensation package for Postecoglou imminent – it may not prove feasible to appoint the Fulham boss until the end of the season, when his contract at Craven Cottage runs out.
Analysis: Marinakis walks away from his own Forest fire
It’s 2.23pm when the full-time whistle sounds and the waiting game begins.
Marinakis has long since left his seat in front of his giant television, Forest’s owner evidently unwilling to watch the final 25 minutes of a mess he created.
He has seemingly shot off to finalise a statement consigning Postecoglou to Forest history, with Chelsea’s supporters having already amended their “sacked in the morning” chant to “sacked in a minute, you’re getting sacked in a minute”.
Close enough. At 2.41pm, as we awaited Postecoglou for his post-match press conference, it was confirmed and the presser never came – a sacking after 39 days beaten only by Sam Allardyce’s 30 days at Leeds United in 2022-23.
10 shortest managerial reigns in Premier League history
30 days – Sam Allardyce at Leeds United (3 May 2023 to 2 June 2023)
39 days – Ange Postecoglou at Nottingham Forest (9 September 2025 to 18 October 2025)
40 days – Les Reed at Charlton Athletic (14 November 2006 to 24 December 2006)
69 days – Javi Gracia at Leeds United (22 February 2023 to 2 May 2023)
75 days – Rene Meulensteen at Fulham (1 December 2013 to 14 February 2014)
77 days – Frank de Boer at Crystal Palace (26 June 2017 to 11 September 2017)
85 days – Quique Sanchez Flores at Watford (7 September 2019 to 1 December 2019)
85 days – Bob Bradley at Swansea City (3 October 2016 to 27 December 2017)
94 days – Nathan Jones at Southampton (10 November 2022 to 12 February 2023)
98 days – Colin Todd at Derby County (8 October 2001 to 14 January 2002)
Big Sam’s agreement was brief upon arrival. Postecoglou meanwhile walked into a Forest fire.
He talked a good game on Friday, once more talking trophies and insisting he was focused on what is growing while others looked at the weeds.
But little does it matter now – someone else will be tending to this heap after Marinakis pulled the trigger with a 39-word statement. One word for each day of Postecoglou’s tenure.
“Nottingham Forest Football Club can confirm that after a series of disappointing results and performances, Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties as head coach with immediate effect,” it read.
“The club will make no further comment at this time.”
The timing all-but confirmed Marinakis had indeed departed to rubber-stamp the sacking, and now the Greek must decide whether going full circle can take Forest forward.
Dyche after all would be a return to pragmatism and make Postecoglou’s appointment all the more pointless, for which Marinakis must shoulder the blame.
For a man so willing to throw himself in front of the cameras during key moments like contract extensions – see Morgan Gibbs-White in the summer – it would be fascinating to see if he fronts up after such a mistake. But we won’t hold our breath.
Sympathy for Postecoglou
The boat was rocking when Postecoglou jumped aboard, and hindsight makes it easy to suggest he should never have taken this on.
He said himself he fancied the challenge when he could otherwise have been sat on the sofa, while on Friday he bristled with typical defiance during an extraordinary press conference that included a five-minute monologue – and will now go down as his last interaction with the media as Forest manager.
The negative from all that was an obsession with his ex. He spent three minutes talking Tottenham Hotspur, evidently unable to forget the manner of his exit just a fortnight after winning the Europa League.
Perhaps that showed the Forest gig arrived too soon, but cut beyond that and through the talk of trophies and you could sympathise with the other points made by Postecoglou, who stressed that change does not happen overnight – or in his case, five weeks.
Already tarnished with the brush that saw Spurs finish 17th, the assumption has been that Postecoglou is unable to change. Always gung-ho. A history of “4-3-3 attacking” when it comes to formation across his stints in Europe and beyond.
But at Forest he did try and change it. He went five at the back for the first time in his managerial career in an attempt to stop the rot, doing so at Newcastle and again at home to Chelsea.
The two results read 5-0 combined but against Chelsea that tells an unfair story. Forest were the better side in the first half, but were somehow unable to capitalise on the errors made by a Blues side who were a far cry from the team that had beat Liverpool before the international break.
The 5-3-2 was seemingly working, and there was no indication the players were not playing for Postecoglou, nor was there any fan discontent.
That all changed with a quick, devastating one-two early in the second half: Josh Acheampong heading it in unopposed before Pedro Neto squeezes in a free-kick three minutes later.
Postecoglou could hardly believe it:. Hands on head as Matz Sels, the goalkeeper who shared last season’s Golden Glove, allows Neto’s strike to squirm through his grasp.
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All the first-half efforts were undone, although the Forest fans refused to turn on Postecoglou, chanting “Come on you Reds!” instead of joining in with Chelsea fans’ “sacked in the morning” jibe.
It suggested that perhaps the supporters had some level of sympathy too, as though they appreciated the improvement, but Marinakis’ departure was a reminder only one voice mattered.
The Greek was not there to watch Reece James score Chelsea’s third, while the mood at full-time suggested Postecoglou knew what awaited.
He didn’t make it to the post-match press conference, with Marinakis’ mind made up, and after he came, saw, and barely got a second month, he leaves Forest with his prospects of a future in the Premier League firmly on the ropes.
The original article: belongs to The i Paper .
