Former Everton boss Dyche wanted to lead the club into its new stadium. He will get the chance to manage at Hill Dickinson in six weeks after being appointed to the top job at Nottingham Forest
Sean Dyche looks on through the Everton defeat at Bournemouth, his last game in charge of the Blues. He has now been appointed manager of Nottingham Forest (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Sean Dyche looks on through the Everton defeat at Bournemouth, his last game in charge of the Blues. He has now been appointed manager of Nottingham Forest (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
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Everton will not have to wait long for a reunion with Sean Dyche after the former Blues boss was appointed Nottingham Forest manager.
Dyche, who started the year in charge of Everton, will end 2025 by welcoming his old side to the City Ground in a game currently scheduled for December 30. He will have already stood in the dugout at Hill Dickinson Stadium by that time, with Forest due at the new ground on December 6.
The Christmas double-header will also see Dyche’s assistants at Everton, Steve Stone and Ian Woan, and his goalkeeper coach Billy Mercer, face the club they worked for under Dyche. All three have been appointed to his new backroom staff.
Dyche was confirmed as Forest boss on Tuesday morning, just days after Ange Postecoglou was fired after defeat at Chelsea consigned him to an eighth match without a win in a spell that lasted just 39 days. With Nuno Espirito Santo already having left, the 54-year-old will be the club’s third manager of the campaign.
Announcing his appointment, the club said: “As a former Forest youth player who lives locally, Dyche… has a deep understanding of the values and pride of Forest and its supporters. With his character, tactical acumen and man-management skills, his appointment represents the best opportunity for a successful and competitive season across both domestic and European competitions.”
Dyche’s first match in charge will be the home Europa League match with Porto later this week. His task of lifting the team from the relegation places will then begin at Bournemouth at the weekend.
That his first Premier League match will be at the Vitality Stadium is a striking coincidence - it was on the south coast that his Everton reign essentially came to an end. Dyche departed the club will the Blues facing the prospect of another relegation fight after a miserable first half of last season.
His final games were a home defeat to Nuno’s Forest, against which it took 81 minutes for Everton to record a shot on target, before the 1-0 loss at Bournemouth in which his side failed to register any efforts on goal. His departure days later paved the way for the return of David Moyes.
Dyche has accepted he felt unable to take Everton forward amid that tough run of results but said he left the club proud of what he had achieved. His nearly two years at Finch Farm saw him manage the club through crises on and off the pitch, with him inheriting a chastening relegation battle that ended with survival on the last day of that season - secured against Bournemouth. He then steered Everton through a campaign in which the club suffered two unprecedented points deductions for financial breaches that were committed before Dyche’s tenure. He helped maintain stability in the dressing room while boardroom and ownership crises broiled above him.
He said in a statement released through the League Managers’ Association in January: "It was an honour to manage Everton, a football club with a significant heritage and an enormous following in Liverpool and all over the world, through one of its toughest periods in its history. Despite the challenges we faced, I wanted to ensure that the club’s narrative was focused on the positive direction it will take in the future and that the team could focus on competing in the Premier League in the present.”
Dyche was handed the backing of new owners The Friedkin Group after their takeover was completed in December but that run of results and performances after Christmas, combined with the club’s position and the underwhelming start to the final season at Goodison Park, led to the parting of ways that soon followed.