Vitor Pereira has shared his management philosophy and expressed confidence that Nottingham Forest can avoid relegation ahead of Sunday's Premier League match against Liverpool
Brian Dick
10:43, 17 Feb 2026
Vitor Pereira is now in charge of Nottingham Forest
Vitor Pereira is now in charge of Nottingham Forest(Image: Getty Images)
Vitor Pereira is optimistic that Nottingham Forest possesses the skill to evade relegation to the Championship.
On Monday, the Portuguese head coach, who is the Nottingham club's fourth in a tumultuous season, conducted his first training session since taking over from Sean Dyche. He spoke to Forest TV following the session and is set to meet with external media today ahead of Thursday's Europa League encounter with Fenerbahce.
Forest's inaugural Premier League match under the new manager will be at home against Liverpool on Sunday. That is a concern for Arne Slot and his players, who will be hoping to avoid a new manager bounce, a phenomenon where a club sees an improvement in results after appointing a new boss. Pereira, 57, was in high spirits before his new team's game against Liverpool.
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"I am very proud; it is an honor for me to be part of this family, a good team, good feelings, now is time to work," he said. "We have very good conditions to work, the players have talents, we have very good players, and now is time to start to build the identity that I want.
"For a manager, it is important that the players and all the staff buy the idea and also the person, because you must believe in the idea in the game. It is important to accept the person, we are human beings, mistakes can happen, but it is important to recognize the values and believe in the leadership."
Part of Pereira's task will be instilling his philosophy into a squad that has already received instructions from Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Dyche in just a few months. "It is difficult, I understand the point of view of the players because each manager has leadership, each manager has an idea of football, but it is important to believe in the work we are doing," he added.
Sean Dyche was recently fired by Forest
Sean Dyche was recently fired by Forest(Image: Getty Images)
"We started today to explain the ideas, it is important to get the players comfortable in the roles and to win the confidence of them, to give them the confidence to play and be themselves.
"For me to lead the team, they need to recognize your competence, your hard work to help them and creating a spirit, a smile can do magic, this is the spirit I want to create. We cannot come to the training and not enjoy the training.
"We want to create the spirit of the family and create the environment to feel happy and feel proud of how we work. I am very honest, if we play a game without quality at the end of the match I will not feel proud of my work.
"I want to see the team spirit, everybody fighting and competing without fear – and quality. They need to understand the quality of the idea and to express themselves in the idea. I want to create the freedom for them to express themselves and feel happy.
"The quality is there, for sure. It was there, the first training with me, but I enjoy it. It was freezing, it was raining, but they have quality.
"Sometimes we need the confidence to express ourselves without being afraid to make mistakes. We must have the confidence to try again, this is a moment we need to believe in ourselves as a team. It's not about speeches, I believe the first speech is important, and it is important to give them confidence every day, but the most important is the work.
"I cannot change a lot because it is impossible playing every three days, it means they need to be intelligent, and I believe we can create something strong together. My challenge and the challenge for them is to play their best version, not to think about what might happen, the future we don't know, we can just think about the present and hard work.
"They proved to me today they want to play good football, they want to win, they want to play. I really believe together we can get the points and the quality the team showed in the past, I think they can show in the future.
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"I don't believe that you succeed without teamwork. The team is not only the players, the supporters they are our team, we make the staff, everybody in the club, and if we work together as a team we can reach our targets for sure."