Evangelos Marinakis has rolled the dice for the third time and, away from Europe, this has been a season from hell for Nottingham Forest.
Ever since the club’s return to the Premier League in 2022, it has been a rollercoaster ride. With three relegation scraps, a stirring challenge for Champions League qualification, a points deduction, and various other controversies, Forest are never short of storylines.
Sean Dyche is now their third managerial exit of the season with the club taking drastic action as they bid to avoid dropping into the Championship.
Panic has been building behind the scenes for weeks. Dyche departs with some senior players understood to have recently expressed concerns over his coaching methods and tactics to Marinakis. After the 0-0 draw with Wolves – where Forest failed to score from 35 shots on goal – Marinakis held a crisis meeting to discuss the next move.
Despite reluctance from some board members to make another change and threaten further disruption, Marinakis felt that dismissing Dyche was the best possible solution to salvaging the season. The downward spiral in performances was regarded as too alarming to ignore.
Fears have grown about a disconnect between the players and coaching staff. Players felt they were unprepared for matches, including aspects of their tactical approach to combat opponents such as the press.
Other factors such as team selection were concerns, such as the persistence in using Nicolas Dominguez as a left-sided midfielder despite the number of specialist wingers in the squad. James McAtee, a £25m buy from Manchester City, had his best game against Ferencvaros in the Europa League on January 29 and has not been seen since. Taiwo Awoniyi has not appeared since a fine solo goal at Brentford.
There is still some sympathy for Dyche. He never made the grade as a player when he was a trainee in the late 1980s under Brian Clough, and this is the job he always wanted. His assistants, Ian Woan and Steve Stone, are entrenched in the history of the club. There was no doubt that all had deep affinities with the two-time European Cup winners. This will have meant more to Dyche than most. After never making a senior appearance, he will have been annoyed by any players who did not represent the badge properly.
It is understood that he wanted players with experience of the Premier League signed in the January transfer window. Two targets were Everton’s Dwight McNeil and Brighton’s Lewis Dunk, but neither arrived.
Lorenzo Lucca was recruited from Napoli and Dyche was unconvinced when recently asked for his thoughts on Luca Netz, a £2m left-back signed from Borussia Monchengladbach.
But the draw with Wolves means Forest have won only two of their past ten league matches. Dyche said Forest were in the bottom three when he was appointed, repairing the damage of Ange Postecoglou’s reign.
