Badge of honour: Sean Dyche has Forest history but focuses on urgent task at hand

“This badge is bigger than any manager,” Sean Dyche said at his unveiling as Nottingham Forest’s head coach, wearing a training top with his initials, before correcting himself. “Well, there was one manager who was probably as big as the badge – we all know who that was.” Then came an impression of Brian Clough, a crack at that unique drawl. “‘Young ginger, well done,’” he said, reliving his three years as a trainee at the City Ground, the days he spent wandering down the Trent, with Del Boy, Clough’s labrador, whizzing past him and his manager’s voice invariably within earshot.

Dyche tells a story of how, as a youth player, he and a few others tended to Clough’s garden at his home in Quarndon. “We were on £28.50 a week and he paid you a tenner to do his garden. So we actually thought: ‘This is decent.’ He’d cook for you and make sure you were well looked after. It was quite enjoyable, not too much gardening.”

For Dyche, this moment has been a long time in the making. He lives in the city and has a fondness for the club. In recent years he and his longstanding assistant Ian Woan, who was part of the Forest side the last time they were in Europe, in 1995‑96, have sometimes popped into the West Bridgford cafe where Forest legends such as Frank Clark, Colin Barrett and Garry Birtles meet every Thursday to talk old and new tales. He will have to give it a miss this week to prepare for the visit of Porto, unbeaten this season, in the Europa League on Thursday evening.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the miracle men,” said Dyche, who succeeded Ange Postecoglou to become Forest’s third manager of the season. “They will give me a bit of ear-holing if I don’t do too well, so I better win some games for them. Those guys mean a lot to me. A lot of Forest fans recognise the history of this club. I’ve got my own and now I’ve got a chance to reinvent my own, I suppose, as manager.”

Dyche took Forest training for the first time on Tuesday, three days after Postecoglou oversaw a 3‑0 home defeat by Chelsea that left the club in the Premier League relegation zone. Ryan Yates, the club captain who joined aged eight, acknowledged these are early days but Dyche and his staff have alleviated some of the gloom.

Dyche’s staff includes another Forest hero in Steve Stone, as well as Billy Mercer and Tony Loughlan, both of whom played for the club. “I feel like a massive strength of this club is getting the connection between the fans, players and manager and, let’s be honest, the last few weeks we haven’t had a good feeling around here,” Yates said. “The new manager and his staff have brought that sense of life and energy.”

Dyche made clear he does not “know the club like the back of my hand” given his most recent experience at Forest has been as an opposition manager, but he believes he has a wider understanding of the place and expectations. The house rules have been laid. “I’ve let them wear white socks, for goodness sake,” Dyche said. “I’ll have my ex-players caning me on WhatsApp. But they’re not allowed to wear snoods or hats … I had to do a deal somewhere.”

Forest have lost their past four matches and not won since the opening day. Dyche said the owner, Evangelos Marinakis, recognised the importance of stabilising things. Dyche encountered the Greek billionaire in the Europa League with Burnley, when his side lost in a playoff against Olympiakos in 2018. After the first leg Dyche expressed anger at Olympiakos dignitaries, including Marinakis, confronting the officials at half-time in Piraeus. “We had a bit of a giggle about it,” Dyche said.

Part of Dyche’s appeal is his reputation for building teams with solid foundations, pertinent for a side without a clean sheet in 20 matches. “I’ve been put in many boxes, I’m not bothered,” he said. “I’ve never tried to hide behind what’s effective. It’s no badge of honour to me. Five years ago people were going: ‘Why do you rely on set pieces?’ Now they’re in vogue. Skinny jeans, flared jeans, skinny jeans, flared jeans … my daughter hammers me for whatever jeans I wear. Apparently on social media even I got some stick for my trainers walking into training [on Tuesday] … couldn’t believe that. Tom Ford [trainers] but, anyway, don’t like to mention it.”

Dyche is proud that his formative years were at Forest but believes that should not mean he or his staff are judged differently. “There’s no shortcut with the fans, but we do care, that’s one thing I don’t think can ever be questioned,” he said. “All I dreamt of was wearing the shirt, but I never got to do it. Stoney and Woany did, Billy did as a loan goalkeeper, Tony wore it and scored a goal. I was the only one who didn’t and they keep reminding me of that.

“For me to have that part of it is a big thing for me personally. But it doesn’t give me a divine right, trust me. The fans want me to win. If I’m not winning, the fans are going to come at me because that’s the way fans work and I’ve got no problem with that because that’s the reality. I was here as a kid and never wore the shirt, the badge. Well, now, I’m sitting with it on me.”