Nottingham Forest need their fourth head coach of the season to inspire an upturn in results and performances
05:00, 13 Feb 2026
Morgan Gibbs-White and his Nottingham Forest teammates appear dejected after the 0-0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers
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Morgan Gibbs-White and his Nottingham Forest teammates appear dejected after the 0-0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers(Image: Getty)
With Nottingham Forest’s Premier League status hanging by a thread, Evangelos Marinakis has judged the potential rewards to outweigh the risk of rolling the dice again.
Having already dispensed with Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou, the Reds owner sharpened his axe and did the same to Sean Dyche on Wednesday night. Vitor Pereira is the next man up for the hot seat, and he certainly has his work cut out.
Forest are three points above the Premier League’s bottom three with 12 games remaining. They have a squad packed with players brought in for big money who are yet to live up to their billing. At odds with their desperate relegation fight, they also have designs on progress in the Europa League as they prepare for a two-legged play-off with Fenerbahce.
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For Marinakis, though, the gamble of turning to a fourth boss of the season - regardless of any instability created - is viewed through the lens of possibly having a better outcome than persisting with the status quo. He clearly believes the odds of the club staying up are greater with Pereira in charge than they were under Dyche.
It is a huge call and time will tell whether it works out. Much is riding on this appointment being the right one, with a significant in-tray awaiting the new man…
Offer a confidence booster
A tame shot from Callum Hudson-Odoi straight at Jose Sa after being played in by Morgan Gibbs-White. Omari Hutchinson getting pelters from the crowd after another woeful Forest corner. Dan Ndoye going nowhere near with an acrobatic effort. Lorenzo Lucca squandering a chance from a six on one break. Any number of examples were on offer during the 0-0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers to show players short on confidence.
Dyche did himself no favours when he threw some of his charges under the bus after the Reds’ FA Cup exit at the hands of Wrexham. Dressing-room dressing-downs can be one thing, but to publicly call out performances is another - not least when some of those concerned had only signed for the club last summer.
An awkward moment all round, then, when Dyche needed to call upon those same players in the Europa League and tried to eek out some important contributions from them. Pereira cannot follow the same school of man-management if he wants to get a tune out of this group.
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Inspire a sense of unity
Forest’s first three seasons back in the top-flight were characterised by unity and togetherness - within the dressing room, throughout the club and between fans and the team. Steve Cooper and Nuno both forged a tight bond with players and with supporters.
It cannot be downplayed how much of a difference that made to matters on the pitch. Twice, it helped get the Reds over the line in the battle for survival and then it helped carry them up the table last term.
When the City Ground is on song and rocking, it is electric. The roar from the Trentside crowd is capable of pushing the players on.
When Dyche first came in, his past connection with the club - along with that of his coaching staff - created plenty of goodwill. His first match in charge, a Europa League win over Porto, generated a brilliant atmosphere.
His last match ended with boos and jeers, though - and not for the first time. Pereira needs to get back to what made the club such a special place to be not so long ago.
Maximise the squad
Upwards of £180 million was spent on signings in the summer as Forest put together a squad they felt would be capable of holding its own at home and abroad. Too few of those recruits have really made their mark.
There is talent and quality there, but performances (individually and collectively) have not demonstrated as such. The Reds are better than that.
Dyche came under scrutiny for his tactics and his coaching, along with his team selections and his use of substitutions. Pereira will need to get a grip on all of those things, all with very little margin for error given the games are running out.
Dyche generally stuck with a tried and trusted core of players and showed a reluctance to look beyond that. James McAtee was superb against Ferencvaros recently but hasn’t got on the pitch since. Likewise, Taiwo Awoniyi, who must have been flying high after scoring against Brentford but has had a watching brief in subsequent games.
Jair Cunha seems to have gone AWOL entirely. Winter window recruit Luca Netz would be forgiven for feeling a little hard done by after being overlooked to start against Leeds, giving a good account of himself from off the bench and then left to look on against Wolves - and after being omitted from the Europa League squad to boot. Over to Pereira, then, to get the best out of this group.
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Two-pronged assault
Pereira needs to find solutions to the obvious problem of a lack of goals. He might want to watch a rerun of the midweek stalemate for a closer look at what he has let himself in for. Thirty-five efforts at goal were registered by the hosts on the night, but not a single one counted.
The new man needs to spark a turnaround in performances that have been heading in only one direction. Marinakis will be hoping for a repeat of the Portuguese’s magic with Wolves last term, when he dragged them over the survival line.
The complication for Pereira is he will have to try to conjure a spell on two fronts. The absolute priority is survival, but this season was also supposed to be about embracing the Europa League.
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Dyche never really did that. Rightly or wrongly, he tended to turn to his second string for the continental fixtures. As a result, Forest missed out on automatic qualification for the last 16 and have that aforementioned play-off against Fenerbahce (one of Pereira’s former clubs no less) on the horizon.
Points, performances, pride in Europe, the new man will have a lot on his plate. Strap yourselves in, the next few months are likely to see a few more twists and turns on this particular rollercoaster.
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