Former Everton manager Sean Dyche has been sacked by Nottingham Forest and is set to be replaced by Vitor Pereira who once made a desperate plea to be Blues boss in a live interview on Sky Sports News which made for ‘car crash television’
Vitor Pereira is set to become Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis' fourth 'permanent' manaager of the season after Sean Dyche, Ange Postecoglou and Nuno Espirito Santo
Vitor Pereira is set to become Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis' fourth 'permanent' manaager of the season after Sean Dyche, Ange Postecoglou and Nuno Espirito Santo
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After sacking former Everton manager Sean Dyche, Nottingham Forest have opened talks with Vitor Pereira, the former hopeful to be Blues boss, who once infamously conducted a toe-curling interview on Sky Sports News which made for ‘car crash television’ as he tried to make his case to take the reins at Goodison Park.
Despite being the longest serving of the eight managers in as many years under Farhad Moshiri at Everton, with just shy of two years in the hotseat, Dyche, who was previously in charge of Burnley for almost a decade, lasted just 114 days at the City Ground with the club announcing at 12:31am that he had been “relieved of his duties” following the goalless draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers,
That left Forest three points above the relegation places with 12 games remaining.
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The East Midlanders’ trigger-happy owner Evangelos Marinakis is now looking for his fourth ‘permanent’ boss of the season following the exits of Nuno Espirito Santo, who guided the club to European football for the first time in 30 years, and Ange Postecoglou, who somehow got himself sacked twice in four months with his tenure lasting a mere 39 days after steering Tottenham Hotspur to their first major trophy in 17 years the previous May,
Ironically, Pereira, who is now bookies’ favourite to take charge at Forest, was sacked by Wolves on November 2, just 45 days after signing a new three-year deal at Molineux, with his winless side rock bottom of the Premier League table having taken two points from their first 10 matches.
The Portuguese coach had been trying to break into the English top flight for a while though and while he’d ultimately lose out to Frank Lampard when it came to landing the Everton position, Pereira deciding to pick up the phone to Sky Sports for an attempt at self-promotion in January 2022.
It might have made a gripping watch for the neutral fan but his television audition for the managerial vacancy at Goodison Park had many Evertonians perplexed by what was unfolding before their eyes. It certainly was an unorthodox approach to going on a charm offensive with your prospective new fans.
Some wondered whether this was the work of Moshiri – himself no stranger to a cheeky text to Jim White – and Kia Joorabchian, putting their preferred candidate into the spotlight to win over those many, and there were very many, doubters among the supporter base. Or was this just a last-ditch attempt to curry favour for a job he was already out of the running for? Others simply branded it as 'mad', but they had been using similar adjectives to describe an increasing number of decisions at the club at the time.
The televised telephone conversation lasted for over 20 minutes and at least displayed the decent command of English Pereira now possessed, something that had also been questioned in the past, even if he did seem to pronounce the name of Everton’s home ground as ‘Godison’ Park.
He certainly talked a good game in the eyes of some, speaking about pressing, possession football and the eight trophies he had won during his career, but cynics might fear such honeyed words were about to lure Moshiri into making another inappropriate choice for the job rather than listening to the opinions of his own club’s supporters.
He also pointed out that the critics don’t know him but his attempt to explain the relegation from the German second tier with 1860 Munich in 2017 that stains his CV was unconvincing. Pereira said: “They didn’t have money and they were relegated because of the money.”
But that’s not entirely true. Their subsequent double drop to the Regionalliga Bayern for 2017/18 was because they were unable to obtain a licence for 3. Liga but they initially went down because they finished third bottom of the table under him and lost a play-off.
You could tell that Sky were trying to milk this golden opportunity of getting a Premier League managerial candidate on the blower for all it was worth and series of follow-up questions, including chancing their arm with ones about when he last spoke to Everton officials and whether he felt he was ultimately going to be the next Blues boss, failed to get a bite.
The circus also plummeted to new depths when a phone was heard ringing in the background and Pereira was asked if it was Everton, to which he replied: “No!”