Nottingham Forest legend Garry Birtles might well point the finger at player power for Sean Dyche’s demise, but it runs much deeper than that, with his tactics the hot topic of discussion.
Dyche was sacked by Forest after a drab 0-0 draw with Wolves at the City Ground last week, which came on the back of an abysmal night at Elland Road, which saw a disasterclass result in a 3-1 loss.
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Forest players vented to Evangelos Marinakis after that result against Wolves and that led to Marinakis making another City Ground change.
Birtles might or might not be pals with Dyche, but his recent comments on Forest and Morgan Gibbs-White to defend the now departed head coach are as wide of the mark as Lorenzo Lucca’s woeful finish against Wolves last week!
Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche
Photo by Darren Staples / AFP via Getty Images
What Garry Birtles said about Sean Dyche being sacked
Birtles has gone to town on the Forest squad for getting Dyche sacked – citing that it wouldn’t have happened in his day as a player.
It’s no secret that Birtles used to play football, and he’s often keen to remind listeners of the Forest Focus podcast.
On the latest edition, he’s gone to town on the players for revolting against Dyche, throwing Gibbs-White under the bus for missing a chance against Wolves and also bemoaning other aspects of the squad this season.
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Birtles told the Forest Focus podcast: “Wrong decision, yes, I mean, it’s the second manager the players have got the manager to sack. Martin O’Neill before and now Dyche. Player power in that respect is totally unacceptable for me.
“You’ve got to go back to when I played, and I believe I’ve got a right having played to say what is right and what is wrong, and I think it’s totally wrong that the players can do that. When was the last time a player got the sack for a team’s performance? Never! It’s always blame, blame, blame the manager and sometimes they should be sacked, and sometimes they shouldn’t.
“It annoys me the players have the power to do that, it’s totally and utterly unacceptable. Is it Dyche’s fault that Morgan Gibbs-White misses that header against Wolves? I could have done that with my eyes closed. Is it Sean Dyche’s fault we can’t take a corner to save our lives? Is it Sean Dyche’s fault we get in great areas and then play bad balls, of course it’s not!”
Sorry Garry, you’re wrong about Dyche
It’s not nice to think that players have so much power these days in the modern era, but welcome to the Premier League in 2026, Garry!
Dyche is far from blameless in his sacking from Forest – and it all started once upon a time in Wrexham.
On that occasion, Dyche made a number of changes and played many of the starters out of position during a penalty shootout defeat.
After sending some of them out in unfamiliar positions, he suggested that the players he picked wouldn’t be knocking on his door anymore, digging out a number of lads who hadn’t been playing for weeks.
That was the beginning of the end…
Dyche’s performances against the teams around the Reds in the league were a disgrace, and you won’t want to hear it, Garry, but that is on Dyche!
His tactical strategy to smack the ball from centre-back to striker as quickly and as emphatically as possible is all on him, and at times in games, the players looked confused.
Then we get to his inability to change in-game situations.
The home game against Everton was nothing short of farcical, with Dyche spamming the box with crosses despite both Toffees defenders being in excess of 6ft 5in.
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This is just ridiculous, should we have persisted with Dyche?
Against Wolves, Forest might have missed chances, and that is on the players, but a great man once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.
Instead of throwing caution to the wind against a Wolves side who didn’t even try to win, he opted to use just two substitutes – both like for like – and leave the likes of James McAtee and Taiwo Awoniyi sat as unused subs.
Taking all of that into consideration, it’s hard to feel sympathy for Dyche.
The head coach was under serious pressure before the Wolves game, and just because Marinakis may have sought advice from some senior players, it doesn’t mean they actually got him the sack, per se.
Birtles didn’t express the same level of empathy to Ange Postecoglou when he was sacked amid reports of Marinakis seeking suggestions from the senior players.
Ultimately, it’s a modern-day thing that happens at a lot of football clubs, and Birtles simply has to realise that football has moved on from when he was a player.
Sacking Dyche was the right decision and now Forest have to look forward…
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