Nottingham Forest have sacked their head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, making him the first Premier League manager to lose his job this season.
The club released a statement just after midnight, thanking Nuno for his efforts and calling his time at the club a “very successful era”.
Nuno had been in charge for 21 months, taking over in December 2023 after Steve Cooper was dismissed. He helped the team avoid relegation and guided them to a 7th-place finish last season, their best since 1994/95. That earned them a spot in the Europa League, replacing their original Conference League place after Crystal Palace were penalised for breaching UEFA ownership rules.
However, things began to go wrong when Nuno’s relationship with the club’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, started to break down. Just two weeks ago, Nuno said that they were no longer as close as they used to be and that “everybody at the club should be together, but this is not the reality.”
There were already signs of tension last season. In May, Marinakis appeared to confront Nuno on the pitch after a draw against Leicester. Forest later said there was no confrontation and called such reports “fake news”.
Nuno also criticised the club’s transfer activity over the summer. Sporting director Edu Gaspar took a bigger role in signings, bringing in 13 new players, but several regulars, including Anthony Elanga, Danilo and Wayne Hennessey, were allowed to leave. Nuno said the squad had become “unbalanced”.
The final straw may have come after Forest were beaten 3-0 by West Ham in their last match. Although Nuno said he planned to meet with Marinakis during the international break to sort things out, Sky Sports News reported that the meeting never happened. Marinakis instead decided it was time for a change.
Former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou is one of the favourites to replace Nuno, along with Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner and Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola. Edu Gaspar and chief football officer Ross Wilson are in charge of finding the new head coach.
Forest currently sit 10th in the table with four points from three games. Their next match is away to third-placed Arsenal on Saturday.
