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Hand the keys back, pack the suitcase, take down the pictures, terminate the lease. Ange Postecoglou really should have never left temporary digs for a Nottingham apartment during the international break. Football moves fast, the Australian sacked after just 40 days and eight games in charge.
One hundred and sixty-four days ago, Chelsea’s previous visit to the City Ground on a sunny May afternoon, the complexion was different. At kick-off there was a contrasting kind of jeopardy in the air. It was the final game of the season, qualifying for the Champions League still a distinct possibility.
What has unravelled in the five months since has been almost entirely disastrous for Forest. The writing was on the wall for Postecoglou the moment Evangelos Marinakis departed his seat in the directors’ box just after the hour, at which point Forest trailed 2-0, decision made.
Marinakis left the stadium altogether. Eighteen minutes after the final whistle, Forest confirmed Postecoglou’s exit. His removal is in effect Marinakis acknowledging both his mistake and the reality Forest, five months on from coming within a point of reaching the game’s grandest club stage, are in a relegation fight.
This season should have been cause for celebration but it has been anything but. In many ways the arrival of Edu as the global head of football for Marinakis’s stable of clubs in July set this chain of events in motion.
Nuno Espírito Santo, adored by supporters for guiding Forest into Europe for the first time since 1995-96, did not get on with Edu and it quickly became apparent that it was an arranged marriage doomed for divorce. It was going to be a thankless task for whoever replaced Nuno but the supporters never warmed to Postecoglou.
Marinakis saw a winner in Postecoglou, who last season, as we all know, led Tottenham to the Europa League, their first trophy since 2008. Marinakis hoped Postecoglou could deliver silverware at Forest, too. On the eve of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by Chelsea, Postecoglou insisted he would do so if afforded the time.
But the numbers painted a different reality: Postecoglou has now lost 31 of his past 51 matches and won just 35 points from the last available 120. Forest were frail defensively under him, conceding 18 goals and failing to keep a clean sheet across his tenure, and, perhaps more alarmingly, unconvincing in attack, scoring just once in five league games. “Are you not entertained?” was famously one of Postecoglou’s zingers at Spurs and after five weeks Forest, certainly, felt short-changed.
The warning signs were there for Postecoglou when Forest collapsed in the Carabao Cup at Swansea, just his second game in charge. Edu and John McGovern, Forest’s European Cup-winning captain, were among the dignitaries present. Forest led 2-0 and were cruising but conceded two freakish stoppage-time goals and found themselves out of the competition in mid-September.
Postecoglou and his staff were convinced the elusive win would arrive against Midtjylland but a humiliating evening transpired, Forest’s vulnerability at set pieces exposed. Only West Ham and Wolves have leaked more top-flight goals this season and Nuno will surely soon change that.
All three of Chelsea’s goals on Saturday lunchtime stemmed from set pieces. Postecoglou spoke of anxiety seeping into his players. The first half was encouraging but ultimately was another unedifying defeat, another three goals haemorrhaged. Marinakis was tuned into the supporters’ increasing discontent, even if Postecoglou insisted not everybody was “death-riding” him. “I don’t want people to feel like I’m under siege,” he said. Forest have lost seven of their 11 games in all competitions this season. It took until mid-February last season for them to lose seven games.
Forest’s players said all the right things. Morgan Gibbs-White, the captain, insisted Forest would become unstoppable when things clicked. Chris Wood echoed the sentiment. The problem was the evidence was not forthcoming. It would have been impossible for Postecoglou to convince the Forest hierarchy or the fans otherwise before Thursday’s Europa League game against Porto.
The noise was unrelenting, a far cry from his early days in Melbourne. “[The feedback] was pretty direct because they are over the fence and a metre away from you,” he said. After this, though, it is difficult not to think this could prove Postecoglou’s last opportunity to manage on such a big stage.
Forest have been sounding out successors since that defeat to Midtjylland before the international break. Sean Dyche is out of work and lives in a penthouse practically overlooking the City Ground, but Marinakis has to weigh whether he wants a short-term fix or a longer-term appointment.
The Forest owner is a longstanding admirer of the Fulham manager, Marco Silva, but he would be expensive to extract from his contract, which expires at the end of the season. Silva’s release clause is thought to be about £8m. Marinakis is open to paying compensation for Postecoglou’s successor but he has to get this next move right or risk undoing all of his good work.
