Nottingham Forest: ‘Sacked Ange Postecoglou was not the right fit’

Forest’s problems do not stem from Postecoglou and it would be unfair to point all the fingers at him.

Issues surfaced in the summer, with Edu, Forest’s global head of sport after his official appointment in June, clashing with Nuno.

The pair disagreed, especially over Nuno’s desire to sign winger Adama Traore – someone he worked with successfully at Wolves – from Fulham.

The appointment of Edu can be viewed as the start of the problems, purely from the viewpoint of what happened with Nuno and how the season has unravelled since.

Edu wanted younger signings with greater resale value, not unrealistic in modern football, but Nuno was unhappy he did not get his man as 21-year-old Omari Hutchinson joined for a club record £37.5m from Ipswich.

Hutchinson was eventually left out of the Europa League squad, although Forest sources have suggested there was little other option when looking at squad balance and who to cut.

Nuno was not sold on left-back Cuiabano, who was close to joining Brighton, with the Seagulls due to send him on loan to the Championship, before Edu pursued a deal then sent him back to Botafogo on loan.

Edu has also been much more visible around the training ground since Nuno’s departure in early September – not unusual for a sporting director, but it is a contrast from his previous routine, having opted to remove himself from a potential combustible situation when Nuno was in charge.

He was aided by head of football operations Ross Wilson, who was asked to stay to oversee the final weeks of the transfer window and leave when the time was right, having agreed to join Newcastle in a deal which was announced last week, and Edu has since naturally stepped up further to fill the gap.

But fingers will also be pointed at the former Arsenal midfielder now.

Forest spent about £180m in the summer and recouped more than £100m, the majority coming from the record £55m transfer of winger Anthony Elanga to Newcastle, having signed the Sweden international for £15m in 2023.

Other sales, like goalkeeper Matt Turner to Lyon and Andrew Omobamidele to Strasbourg, meant fringe players moved, although sources have suggested Danilo, who joined Botafogo, was reluctant to leave Forest, while Jota Silva’s switch to Portugal collapsed at the last minute.

In the final hour of the summer European transfer window a deal for the forward to join Sporting Lisbon on loan for 4m euros was agreed, after weeks of negotiations, but the documents did not arrive with the Portuguese league’s registration platform in time.

Silva instead moved to Besiktas – a club he was happy to join – as the Turkish window remained open until 12 September.

Of their summer signings, only loanees Douglas Luiz and Oleksandr Zinchenko started against Chelsea, while James McAtee, Dilane Bakwa, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Hutchinson – for whom Forest paid more than £100m – were not included, so is there an imbalance in the squad and did Forest not buy well enough?

Postecoglou did not walk into a fully functioning machine, but it had already become clear it was not the right fit.

Forest are now looking to make a swift appointment and it is one Marinakis has to get right this time.

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