Nottingham Forest announced the departure of Sean Dyche after Wednesday's drab 0-0 draw against Wolves - and now Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have weighed in with their reaction
Kieran King
12:27, 13 Feb 2026
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis
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Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Sean Dyche after a goalless draw with Wolves(Image: Getty Images)
Gary Lineker has claimed that the Nottingham Forest players should challenge owner Evangelos Marinakis over his managerial policy after sacking a third manager this season.
Forest confirmed in a statement at 12:31am on Thursday morning, a matter of hours after the Reds had been held to a goalless draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, that Sean Dyche has been relieved of his duties as head coach.
Dyche joined Forest in October following the dismissal of Ange Postecoglou and he won ten of his 25 matches in charge before Marinakis bit the bullet after the Reds failed to beat rock bottom Wolves at The City Ground.
Vitor Pereira is set to become Forest's fourth manager of the season, after Nuno Espirito Santo, Postecoglou and Dyche, with the ex-Wolves boss close to penning a contract until the summer of 2027.
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Discussing Forest's latest managerial decision, ex-Newcastle United forward Alan Shearer mentioned a reported post-match meeting that occurred soon before Marinakis made the decision to fire Dyche.
"There are reports, and it looks as if they're pretty solid, that he gets a players' committee in and speaks to the players and finds out what they feel, and by all accounts that's what he did last evening after the game," Shearer said on The Rest Is Football podcast.
Former Leicester City forward Lineker then chimed: "After the game he brings in the players, probably a couple of them who might not be in the starting line-up and you know what footballers are like: if you're in the team, you're generally happy with the manager; if you're not, you're not. In the big scheme of things players will also look for an excuse, they might blame the manager."
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Shearer responded: "But he has to take his responsibility for his recruitment of managers, I mean come on! If you're looking at Ange and looking at Nuno and looking at Sean Dyche and now you're looking for your fourth manager in a season. Sometimes you have to say to yourself: 'Am I doing my job right?' And clearly he's not. So he has to take his share of the blame."
Espirito Santo, Postecoglou and Dyche are different types of coaches in their own right and adopt varied ways of playing football. The same can be said about Pereira, who is a high intensity coach and likes his team to play on the front foot and in a possessed-based style.
Vitor Pereira
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Vitor Pereira is set to take over at Forest(Image: Getty Images)
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"Also the way he's flip-flopped from styles," Lineker finished. "Obviously Nuno plays in a counter-attacking way, Ange plays very much on the front foot; then he goes back to a style with Sean Dyche - the players will be going 'What? Who's coming next?!' Vitor Pereira played quite a high press at times for Wolves, so I mean, are they going to change again? And then you're going to blame the players - I think if the players had the balls in a committee meeting and said to him 'hang on a minute mate, you need to decide what f****ing style of football you actually want us to play' rather than changing it and flip-flopping 14 times - I dunno, I exaggerate."
Forest are next in action when they travel to Fenerbahce in a Europa League play-off first-leg on Thursday, February 19. They then entertain Liverpool in the Premier League three days later.
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