NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 22: Sean Dyche, the Nottingham Forest manager faces the media at the City Ground on October 22, 2025 in Nottingham, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
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Telling a Nottingham Forest fan in January that they’d be feeling a sense of relief at seeing Sean Dyche in the City Ground dugout by October would probably have brought a snort of derision.
Barely a week into the new year, Dyche was fired by Everton, who were struggling and playing lacklustre soccer. Forest, on the other hand, were revelling in the role of unlikely title challenger.
In fact, just five days after the Everton dispensed of Dyche, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side had played league leaders Liverpool in a top of the table clash.
The enthralling encounters had seen Forest run the eventual champions very close. Leading most of the game through a Chris Wood goal only to come unstuck to a Diogo Jota equaliser late on.
“It was a good game, very entertaining,” said Nuno in a post-match interview with TNT Sports.
“In the first half we were organised and didn’t allow too many situations and the second half was like a ping-pong game and that’s when Liverpool really become stronger and more dangerous, running into spaces. I’m very proud of the team, the way they worked.”
Last season, there was little doubt that the Portuguese manager’s record in the East Midlands was one of the best in the division. He was generating top-level performances from a team of players who were a long way from elite.
Ending the season with European qualification for the first time in decades was just reward for an incredible campaign.
But as the new season rolled around, it became clear that things weren’t right behind the scenes.
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 24: Nuno Espirito Santo, Manager of Nottingham Forest, reacts prior to the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park on August 24, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
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Nuno was unhappy with the recruitment and during the first international break of the season, his relationship with eccentric owner Evangelos Marinakis fell apart.
His first choice of replacement was odd. Ange Postecoglou might have had the kudos of winning a European trophy with Tottenham Hotspur the year before, but stylistically he couldn’t have been further from Nuno.
The side struggled to adapt and he lasted just forty days, failing to win a game before being axed.
Languishing in the relegation zone with just five points from eight Marinakis went for the man with a more rudimental style and solid, if uninspiring, track record: Sean Dyche.
Although he was probably feeling fortunate to have fallen into another Premier League job at his boyhood team, Dyche found himself answering questions were all about whether he had any reservations before joining.
This maybe shouldn’t be a surprise given the fate of the two men who preceded him.
“There was no doubt in taking the role,” he said.
“I was out of a job and wasn’t really part of it – I got a call whether I’d speak to them, and you’re pretty much thinking it’s a yes before you speak to the club.
“It’s not about the past. I don’t question another manager, that’s not my style. The club asked me to imprint my way of working on the club, and hopefully a successful way of working.
“[Marinakis] wants it to stabilise first. He’s been around football for a long time, with Olympiakos and here. Stability is the next move but it’s not an acceptability for the whole run of being Nottingham Forest manager.
“I always say to players, don’t accept ‘alrightness’. That doesn’t achieve anything. You should be wanting more as a football player or manager. The first situation is to stabilise the club though.
“Then we move it forward, but it needs the basics put back into the team first – they’ve just lost sight of that a little bit.
“He wouldn’t do all this if it wasn’t for wanting more. But if you look at the back end of last season, as I said he keeps up with the stats and facts, and it was a tough run.
“There’s work to be done, he’s aware of that. And he wants me to do it.”
Dyche is never one to make big promises or set lofty ambitions. His style is unashamedly back to basics.
So he was already tempering expectations with his mid-season arrival.
“Ideally you’d have longer, of course. In an ideal world you get Day 1 of pre-season with six weeks to work with the players, of course,” he added.
“It’s not often like that. You’re normally coming in where it’s not such good times, a change in the ownership.
“It’s rare to get the perfect scenario, and more days would be helpful for me and the players but they’ve been great so far. We don’t want to overload them with information, but enough to know what to look to do.”
The question is how are Forest fans supposed to feel about this whole strange scenario.
Marinakis has made some bold and bizarre decisions before, many fans objected to his unceremonious sacking of the popular Steve Cooper. But the appointment of Nuno proved inspired.
It’s hard to see Dyche being anything other than a quick fix. While the ex-Burnley coach is a back-to-basics kind of manager the owner is a man staring up at the stars.
He’s made many decisions in the past that seem wrong or ill-advised but the brutal truth is the club has reached heights not seen in a generation under his stewardship.
We can only wait to see what this latest instalment of the drama has in store.