Ange Postecoglou has been sacked by Nottingham Forest.
The former Tottenham boss was relieved of his duties 21 minutes after Forest’s 3-0 loss to Chelsea.
Postecoglou leaves Forest having failed to win a single game in charge.
A club statement read: “Nottingham Forest Football Club can confirm that after a series of disappointing results and performances, Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties as head coach with immediate effect.
“The Club will make no further comment at this time.”
Postecoglou leaves Forest winless
Postecoglou departs after just 39 days in charge, his eyebrow-raising appointment made after Forest parted with Nuno Espírito Santo. Nuno delivered a seventh-placed finish last season but left amid well-documented boardroom discord with owner Evangelos Marinakis and global head of football Edu.
Nuno was let go following a 3-0 home defeat to West Ham at the end of August, with Postecoglou quickly emerging as the preferred choice despite a 17th-placed finish with Tottenham last season.
Postecoglou did deliver Europa League glory for Spurs, but signs of progress in any competition were few during his brief spell with Forest.
Having started with a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal, Postecoglou took just one point from his five league games in charge, that coming in a 1-1 draw with Burnley last month.
He also failed to win either of his games in the Europa League, a 2-2 draw at Real Betis followed by a surprise 3-2 loss at home to Midtjylland. Forest were also dumped out of the EFL Cup by Swansea City, surrendering a 2-0 lead in a 3-2 defeat.
In short, he leaves having failed to win any of his eight games in charge, with Postecoglou’s sacking coming on the heels of a spiky press conference from the Australian on Friday.
This story ends differently
Postecoglou launched a staunch defence of his record at Spurs in his press conference ahead of the meeting with Chelsea.
“If you look at it through the prism that I’m a failed manager who’s lucky to get this job… then these first five weeks looks like this guy’s under pressure,” said Postecoglou, suggesting that the reporter who asked the first question at the media call was “smirking” at him.
“There is an alternative story you can look at. I came to the Premier League two years ago and took over ‘Spursy’ Tottenham.
“I was told by the chairman at the time [Daniel Levy], ‘this club has to win a trophy. We’ve tried to bring winners in – Jose [Mourinho] and Antonio [Conte] – and it hasn’t worked. We have to try something different’.
“We finished fifth in my first year and, every time Harry Kane scores a goal, I wish he’d stayed one more year, because it would have been handy to have had him. But somehow that year has disappeared from the record books.
“I was in meetings and people who are still at the club were in those meetings where I was told that ‘winning a trophy is everything to this football club.’
“We win a trophy. We shed the tag of being ‘Spursy’. It’s Champions League football, which brings some rewards and the opportunity to bring in better players.
“But all I’ve heard, since I finished at Tottenham, is that we finished 17th last year. If I have to explain why we finished 17th, it doesn’t have to go into too much depth.
“Just look at the last five or six teamsheets of ours in the league last season and you’ll see what [the Europa League] I prioritised.
“If people think [finishing 17th] is a reflection of me and my coaching, they’re looking at it through the prism [that] I don’t fit.
“Maybe I’m a manager where, if you give them time, the story always ends the same… with me and a trophy.”
But the story at Forest has ended very differently, and Forest will now look to appoint another manager who can lead them up the league after claiming just five points from their opening eight games.
