Nottingham Forest have confirmed that Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties following Saturday’s defeat to Chelsea. The news was confirmed just 20 minutes after the full-time whistle at the City Ground as the Reds slumped to their sixth defeat in eight matches. Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis stormed out of his seat in the second half as Chelsea secured a routine 3-0 victory.
Postecoglou did not win a single match in charge of Forest and had been under significant pressure to deliver a result against the Blues. His fate was sealed just minutes after the end of the game, with an official statement confirming that he had been sacked. There was no mention of thanks in the unusually short message, which was posted on Forest’s social media accounts.
It read: “Nottingham Forest Football Club can confirm that after a series of disappointing results and performances, Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties as head coach with immediate effect. The Club will make no further comment at this time.”
It came only a day after Postecoglou addressed his future in an extraordinary press conference, in which he suggested that Forest would regret sacking him if they decided to pull the trigger.
“I guess from my perspective, I just don’t fit,” he said. “Not [talking about] here. Just in general.
“If you look at it through the prism of ‘I’m a failed manager who is lucky to get this job’ – I know you’re smirking at me and that’s what’s being said and I can find the print where that’s being said – then of course it looks like this manager is under pressure.”
After speaking at length about his spell in charge of Tottenham, where he won the Europa League at the end of last season, Postecoglou highlighted his knack of claiming silverware at almost every club he has managed.
“We get to the current space where there’s a different story to tell that maybe I’m maybe not a failed manager who was lucky to get this job, but maybe I’m a manager where if given time, the story always ends the same,” he added.
“At all my previous clubs it ends the same: me with a trophy. So just to finish up, and it’s a long-winded answer which probably won’t get any coverage, you can look at these first five weeks and say: ‘He is under pressure because he was lucky to get this job’.
“Or you can look at it and say there has been a major change. I am trying to change the way we play. The players are adapting but there’s been inconsistency in there for sure. But some will look at the weeds, I will look at what’s growing.
“The flip side is I’m really still excited about the opportunity here. That’s how I’m embracing it. I have a group of young players who are willing to change, that’s the first thing. I’m heading down that road.
“The rest of it? I’m not going to waste my time or my energy worrying about that. Whether it’s internal or external I couldn’t care less. At the end of the day, I will do what I think is the right thing to do to bring success to this football club and that’s what I’m focused on.”
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