Sean Dyche has officially been unveiled as the new head coach of Nottingham Forest.
The Reds sacked Ange Postecoglou after an alarming run of form, which saw the Australian fail to win in any of his eight games in charge, with just one goal coming in the Premier League during that time.
Dyche becomes the third head coach to take charge of Forest this season, which is a new Premier League record, with no other club having three permanent managers before Halloween.
The former Burnley and Everton man got to work on day one at the City Ground amid a unanimous vote of confidence from the tired fan base, who quickly became disillusioned with Postecoglou.
Dyche is a man with some old-fashioned traditions – not that they’re all bad ones – and it would appear that one has been ditched on day one at the Nigel Doughty academy.
Sean Dyche takes charge of Everton against Nottingham Forest.
Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Sean Dyche ditches shinpad tradition at Nottingham Forest
As always, when a new head coach gets started, the club likes to showcase what’s been happening on the training pitch, and it would appear there is a real buzz about the place.
Fans were naturally intrigued to see certain players in their shin pads on the training ground, with Dyche previously admitting he demands that his players wear them to train.
His mindset was that you should train like you play, and as you’re not allowed to not wear shin pads in a game of football, why would they not be worn for training?
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He previously told the Liverpool Echo: “This has been going round for years and it drives me mad. Unless I’ve been out of the game for too long, you’re not allowed to wear hats when you play on a Saturday, you’re not allowed to wear snoods when you play on a Saturday and you have to, by the rules, wear shin pads. It is not rocket science.
“Everyone makes the mythical story that it’s hard lines from Sean Dyche. It is just common sense. You train how you play. How can you train how you play if you have 14 snoods on, 15 hats and leggings, no shin pads, white socks, it’s not relevant.”
However, the training videos from day one show a clear training exercise showcasing a number of players not wearing the mandatory attire, with Dyche seemingly relaxing the unofficial rule.
Dyche will demand maximum commitment from Forest players
So far this season, the Forest players have got away lightly under both Nuno Espirito Santo and Postecoglou, but that will almost certainly stop now.
Perhaps Dyche has stepped into the modern era when it comes to his players needing to wear shin pads to train but, ultimately, his commitment to working hard won’t be up for discussion.
Dyche knows he has a big chance to change the outside perception of his management methods at Forest and he will be keen to grasp things with both hands.
This will be the best – and most expensive – squad that Dyche has ever managed and if he gets things right with Forest, perhaps he can revive his career as a manager on Trentside.