Nottingham Forest have appointed a new director of performance, Tottenham’s former head of medicine and sports science Geoff Scott, amid concerns that injury problems have exacerbated their struggle to avoid relegation.
Scott spent 20 years at Tottenham until leaving two years ago after a clash with the then manager, Ange Postecoglou, who was in charge of Forest for eight matches this season.
Vítor Pereira was this month appointed Forest’s fourth manager of a turbulent campaign, and his side are two points above the bottom three before Sunday’s trip to Brighton.
Forest’s struggles have not been helped by injuries, with 19 players ruled out at some stage, one of the worst records in the Premier League. Only Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal have had more injuries, and those clubs have deeper squads.
Scott will take charge of an overhauled medical department, with the existing head of medical, Dr Prithish Narayan, understood to be leaving to return to work for the NHS.
Scott left Tottenham at the start of last season as part of a major restructure of Postecoglou’s backroom team, which led to the appointment of Adam Brett from Brighton as Spurs’ director of performance services. It was widely reported at the time that Scott had clashed with Postecoglou over the players’ workload and management of their recovery, with Tottenham declining to comment.
Tottenham’s squad has been devastated by injuries for the last two seasons under Postecoglou and Thomas Frank, with the club experiencing 41 injuries last season leading to 1,553 days out, the second-highest total in the Premier League after Brighton.
Forest have been drawn to face Midtjylland in the Europa League last 16. The Danish club won 3-2 at Forest in the league stage in October, when Postecoglou was in charge.
