According to reports, Nottingham Forest had an âapproach rejectedâ for their âPlan Aâ to replace former head coach Nuno Espirito Santo for one key reason.
There has been major upheaval at Nottm Forest at the start of this season as controversial owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Nuno and replaced him with Ange Postecoglou.
Nuno did a brilliant job at Forest. Having taken over with the Premier League side battling relegation, he guided them to European qualification last season as they are currently competing in the Europa League.
Despite this, Nunoâs position at Forest became untenable at the start of this campaign as he had a major fallout with Marinakis and director Edu over transfers.
This means it was only a matter of time before Nuno was going to be dismissed and his exit came after Forestâs first Premier League loss of the 2025/26 campaign.
READ:Â Postecoglou âprismâ rant shows Nottingham Forest manager has lost touch with reality
Marinakis and Co. made another puzzling decision by appointing former Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur boss Postecoglou to replace Nuno.
Under Postecoglou, Tottenhamâs Premier League form was dire last season, but he retained a good reputation by winning the Europa League.
Still, Postecoglou was always likely to struggle after replacing Nuno mid-season, as he adopts a completely different style of play and he is already under immense pressure after failing to win any of his first seven games.
Ahead of this weekendâs set of Premier League fixtures, Postecoglou is the favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked and a new report has claimed that he wasnât Forestâs first choice.
According to ESPN Brazil, Palmeiras head coach Abel Ferreira was their âPlan Aâ, though he ârejected Forestâs approachâ as he wanted to stay and prioritise a new contract at his current club.
MORE NOTTM FOREST COVERAGE ON F365âĻ
đ Big Weekend: Liverpool v Man United, Villa, Gyokeres, Postecoglou, Der Klassiker
đ The Premier League is back! Five questions we want answered this weekend
đ When Postecoglou could be sacked by Nottm Forest as player âmoodâ, Marinakis desire revealed
Despite this, the door is open for Forest to make a fresh attempt to appoint Ferreira in the future as his contract will not include a release clause.
The report claims:
âAbelâs future contract , this time, will not include a release clause, and the situation applies to both parties.
âIn other words, the Portuguese player can leave without paying any amount, and the club can too.â
Speaking on Friday, Postecoglou issued a passionate defence of his abilities and pleaded with Nottm Forest to give him time.
He explained:Â âSome look at the weeds but I look at what is growing. I am really excited as I have a group of young players willing to change,â he said, while also confirming he did not speak to owner Evangelos Marinakis during the international break.
âI am not wasting my time on what people think.
âI just donât fit, not here, just in general. If you look at it through the prism of âIâm a failed manager whoâs lucky to get this jobâ then of course this first five weeks looks like âthis guyâs under pressureâ. There is an alternative story that you could look at it.
âI took over Tottenham and was told by the chairman at the time âthis club has to win a trophyâ.
âHe said âweâve tried to bring winners in, Jose [Mourinho] and Antonio [Conte] and it hasnât worked, we need something differentâ. I was slightly offended by that because I see myself as a winner.
âWe finished fifth my first year. Every time Harry Kane scored a goal Iâd wish heâd just stayed one more year because it would have been handy to have him after finishing fifth.
âBut somehow that year has disappeared from the record books. In fact, it was used as a reason for me losing my job because even Tottenham decided to exclude the first 10 games â because they were an anomaly, apparently. Although the first 10 games here are very important, apparently.â
