Latest Nottingham Forest news as Sean Dyche prepares to face Porto in first match as Reds head coach
16:35, 22 Oct 2025
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis
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Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis(Image: PA)
Evangelos Marinakis has made clear instilling stability at Nottingham Forest is the priority for new head coach Sean Dyche - but the owner’s sense of ambition continues to burn bright.
Dyche became the Reds’ third manager of the season when he replaced Ange Postecoglou at the helm on Tuesday. He has taken over a team without a win since the opening day of the campaign.
A run of four successive defeats sounded the death knell for Postecoglou, with Forest left in the Premier League relegation zone and with one point from two Europa League games. It is now on Dyche to turn that form around.
When Postecoglou was appointed, Marinakis spoke of targeting trophies to build on last term’s seventh-placed finish in the top-flight. According to Dyche, the initial goal now is simply to steady the ship.
“I spoke to him (Marinakis) and the people he thinks are important at the club about the prospect of the job, once the decision was made with the outgoing manager. He spoke very openly to me about the challenge,” Dyche said as he faced the media for the first time.
“I think he is aware of the challenge. I don’t think he thinks it’s a gimme just because of last season.
“He does keep up with the stats and facts. He knows at the end of last season there was a challenging run where they didn’t get as many points. He’s aware of that, and that's why they looked to add to (the squad), to try to keep building and keep moving forwards.
“It was a good conversation, otherwise I wouldn't be here. If it was a bad conversation, I certainly wouldn't be here. But it was a good conversation and there was a reality to it as well.”
Dyche added: “He wants it to stabilise first. He's well aware of the challenges. He's been around football a long time, with Olympiacos and then here.
“Stability is the next move, if you like. But that's not an acceptability for the whole run of being Nottingham Forest manager. I don't want that. I don’t want to sit here and go, well, that’s OK then.
“I always say to players, don't accept all rightness. All rightness doesn't get you anything. Let's push for more than all rightness.
“Maybe it can be all right in their life, and there's nothing wrong with that. But as a football manager, a football coach and football players, you should be wanting more.
“The first thing is can we just stabilise the situation. I think everyone knows that. You guys (the media) have been writing about it for weeks. And then can you move it forward? But it still needs the basics putting back into the team, I think, because I think they just lost sight of that a little bit.
“That's the start point. But of course he (Marinakis) wants more for Nottingham Forest.
“There is work to be done, I think he is aware of that. He's just saying to me, right, we want you to do the work. That's the manager's job. And he is right, that is mine, my staff's and the players’ job to correct it, and then see how far we can move it forward.”
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Dyche was speaking ahead of his first game at the helm, at home to Porto in the Europa League on Thursday (8pm kick-off). The last time Forest played in Europe at the City Ground, it ended with the crowd chanting about Postecoglou getting the sack as the hosts fell to FC Midtjylland.
Postecoglou remained in post for another two games after that as a season that started with much excitement threatened to slip away. Dyche has insisted most Reds fans are realistic about the prospects of matching last term’s achievements in the short-term, but he has stressed there is no questioning Marinakis’ long-term ambition.
“I think there's a depth to the fans here, and I'm not just saying it because I've been a kid here and I've seen it over the years, the good, the bad, the highs and the lows, all of it,” said the former Forest youth player. “There's a small part of the fanbase that will think, well, we're here now. But there's a deeper part that goes no, this is not a given.
“There’s a reality to it; you can't just go from getting into the Premier League, then just staying in, then staying in just a bit better, then suddenly going up there and that's it, it's a given forever. I don't believe that the fanbase of Nottingham Forest think it's a given. I think there's a bit of balance to that.
“There’s a little slither of fanbases that are younger and they think it’s all like this. They think it’s all billionaire owned and that you just move everything forward.
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“It's an enormous change there. The owner’s had a bit of question marks, but look at the changes from day one to now - they're huge changes at this football club. You can question the owner currently, which a few have, but at the end of the day the bigger picture is a lot of good, a lot of goodwill, a lot of good feeling, a lot of good feeling around the area, the city, everything. There's a bigger picture to it.”
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