Nottingham Forest have been told that they “dodged a bullet” by not appointing Jose Mourinho to replace Nuno Espirito Santo.
There has been drama at Nottm Forest at the start of this campaign as they have parted company with Nuno following his fallout with Evangelos Marinakis and Edu.
Nuno had done a great job at Nottm Forest since arriving at the end of 2023, guiding the club to Premier League safety in 2023/24 and European qualification last season.
However, Nuno’s position became untenable due to his fallout with several club chiefs and he was dismissed following Forest’s first loss of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign against West Ham.
Following his exit, Forest were linked with several potential replacements, including Mourinho and Fulham boss Marco Silva.
Despite this, it quickly became clear that former Spurs and Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou was their preferred target and his appointment was announced a few hours after the confirmation of Nuno’s exit.
Mourinho, meanwhile, has returned to Portuguese outfit Benfica following his exit from Turkish giants Fenerbahce, so his potential return to the Premier League is off for now.
And former Premier League player Stan Collymore has explained why he thinks Forest were right to snub Mourinho, claiming his “approach is always the same” and he is “the last thing” they “needed”.
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Collymore has also pointed out what he thinks Nottm Forest actually “need” following the arrival of Postecoglou.
“Did Nottingham Forest make a mistake in not appointing Jose Mourinho? Absolutely not! Forest have absolutely dodged a bullet there because Mourinho, these days his approach is always the same,” Collymore claimed.
“He gets a job, gets the sack, then tells everyone how great he is on all the television channels. Then some chairman sees him and thinks yeah, he’s still got that fire in him.
“They give him another job, and he falls out with the local press in a week. Then he falls out with the rest of the nation’s press by the end of the month, three months later he’s at war with the chairman, and he gets a payoff and looks elsewhere.
“That’s the last thing Forest needed. Forest don’t need that kind of destabilising figure in terms of Mourinho. It’s an obvious talking point for pundits, but worth pointing out that maybe what Nottingham Forest need now is a change in the system.”
