Nottingham Forest have sacked Nuno Espirito Santo, and former Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou is already in post.
Nuno’s fallout with Edu led him to publicly criticise Nottingham Forest, so Evangelos Marinakis decided to relieve him of his duties just three games into the Premier League season.
Nottingham Forest Football Club confirms that, following recent circumstances, Nuno Espírito Santo has today been relieved of his duties as Head Coach.
The Club thanks Nuno for his contribution during a very successful era at The City Ground, in particular his role in the… pic.twitter.com/catCyeaeR4
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) September 8, 2025
View Tweet
Marinakis did want unity, but the situation became untenable when it appeared as though Nuno was refusing to play some of his new signings, who were evidently brought in by Edu and his chiefs.
The Portuguese head coach had only just signed a three-year contract in the summer, so we decided to ask football finance expert Adam Williams how the sacking would affect the club’s Financial Fair Play position this year.
Nuno Espírito Santo ahead of Crystal Palace vs Nottingham Forest.
Photo by Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The financial logistics behind sacking Nuno Espirito Santo
Speaking exclusively to Nottingham Forest News, Williams explained the financial logistics behind sacking Nuno.
“Typically, a club has to buy out the remainder of a manager’s contract if they want to dismiss them early – that’s the total wages they would have earned over the term of the deal. That can come as a lump sum payout, or the contract can simply continue without the manager performing his duties.
“The exception is if there are stipulations in the contract about early termination under certain circumstances, such as falling below a specified league position after a certain number of games. But we can be fairly confident that this won’t apply to Nuno Espirito Santo at Forest.
MORE FOREST STORIES
“The other alternative is if there is a pre-agreed or negotiated severance package in the contract, which could theoretically be less than the value of Nuno’s remaining wages. Without being privy to the contract, it’s impossible to say for certain.
“Regardless of the specifics of his deal, however, it’s likely that the cost of Forest sacking Nuno will be capitalised immediately. That means it contributes to their profit or loss for the 2025-26 financial year, which in turn means it will come out of their PSR calculation this season. There might also be legal fees and other ancillary costs included too.”
Nottingham Forest now close to UEFA’s FFP threshold
Williams’s calculations have Forest right up to UEFA’s FFP limit, and he didn’t rule out the possibility of breaching.
“Reportedly, Nuno was on £2m per year. That seems very low to me, however. I’m not sure I buy that when you look at their overall wage bill, which could be creeping towards the £200m mark this season or next.
“But for the sake of argument, let’s say it is £2m. That means Forest take an immediate £6m hit this season, plus another 15% in National Insurance and maybe another 5% in legal fees.
“Under Premier League PSR, they are fine either way. The £67m they lost in 2022-23 isn’t part of the equation anymore, and they made a profit in 2023-24. Even allowing for a big margin for error as far as 2024-25 is concerned, that gives them a fair bit of headroom under the £105m PSR allowance.
“With UEFA’s rules, however, it could be a different story. The Football Earnings test is similar to PSR with a tighter loss limit, but that’s assessed over the three seasons up until the point a club qualifies for Europe, as opposed to PSR which covers the three seasons including the current one. So the Nuno severance package won’t make a difference to that calculation, though it will impact next season’s if they qualify again.
“But the Squad Cost ratio – which caps spending on first-team transfer costs and wages at 70 per cent of turnover plus profit on player sales – is a calendar-year test, so the Nuno compensation will be relevant there, where it will be classed as an employment cost, as will Ange Postecoglou’s wages for the remainder of 2025.
“They are going to be quite close to the 70 per cent threshold as it is, so another £6m-plus could make a material difference in the final analysis. That said, it’s also quite possible they have accepted their fate. If they are going to breach anyway, the extra few million for dismissing Nuno won’t make a big difference.”