Evangelos Marinakis is on the hunt for another Nottingham Forest manager
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is reportedly considering ripping the heart out of a Premier League rival in his search for another new manager, although he faces a considerable compensation hit to do so.
The axe brutally fell on Ange Postecoglou on Saturday, just 39 days into his reign at The City Ground, as Forest were crushed 3-0 at home by Chelsea to leave them in the Premier League’s bottom three.
The decision did not come as much of a surprise, given that Postecoglou failed to win any of his eight games in charge of Forest. However, BBC pundit Alan Shearer claims that Marinakis has to take some of the blame for how things turned out for the Australian.
Following Postecoglou’s exit, Shearer told BBC Sport: “Ultimately the results haven’t been good enough and that is on Ange. But the owner has to take some responsibility too. He chose Ange, it was his appointment.
“How can you go from a manager in Nuno with one style of play to someone like Ange who everyone knows wants his teams to play in a completely different way?”
Thoughts have now switched to who Marinakis will turn to next, with Sean Dyche and former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini two names being heavily touted.
However, multiple reports claim that the controversial Forest owner is lining up a reunion with current Fulham chief Marco Silva instead.
A report from Portuguese outlet ABola claims that Marinakis is ‘doing everything possible’ to get Silva on board, while The Guardian states that Forest will have to pay their Premier League rivals around £8million in compensation to do so.
Marinakis’ interest in Silva stems from the good relationship they had during the Portuguese tactician’s time as head coach at Olympiacos, a club also owned by the Greek businessman.
It’s also not the first time that Forest have moved for Silva, having tried to snatch the Cottagers chief when they sacked Nuno Espirito Santo back in early September. However, at that time, Silva decided it wasn’t the right moment, given how early into the new season it was.
Six weeks on, though, and the Fulham chief is now met with the same dilemma.
Silva cut a demoralised figure as he walked off the pitch following Fulham’s 1-0 home loss to Arsenal on Saturday evening. The defeat was their third in a row and leaves the Cottagers sitting 14th in the table with eight points from their eight games.
However, Silva is known to have a strong relationship with Fulham’s management and fans, where he has worked for five seasons. To that end, Marinakis might yet have his work cut out to strike up another working relationship with the Portuguese going forward.
Forest fans react to Postecoglou sacking
City Ground fans have been reacting to Marinakis pulling the trigger on another manager, and it’s fair to say there have been mixed views.
Commenting on BBC Sport, Mark stated: “It was the wrong appointment. The chairman should have sorted the situation out with Nuno. There’s something wrong with the Forest players generally. They don’t take their chances. Is that the coach’s fault? There’s a lack of leadership on the pitch. The great Brian Clough was sacked after 44 days at Leeds United and we know the history after that. All the best Ange.”
Ziggy added: “Disappointed that he’s not really been given a proper chance to do the job. I’m sure his comments didn’t help him but really he had literally no time.”
Meanwhile, Luke stated: “The only thing wrong with the decision is that it didn’t come 10 days ago. Unfortunately it was just never right from the start with Ange, who surely now must be considered not good enough for the Premier League. Get the next appointment right and there is still enough time left in the season to get things back on track.”
Gavin also wrote: “To sack a manager after 39 days is a disgrace. Who would want that job? It’s time players were held to account.”