Only 20 days after his sacking by Nottingham Forest, Nuno Espírito Santo was back in a Premier League dugout and reminding himself why he returned so quickly. A revitalised West Ham earned a point at Everton, and deserved more after a fine second-half performance. It is a green shoot of hope, which did not look forthcoming before the break when Everton held a lead thanks to Michael Keane’s header. West Ham equalised through a superb Jarrod Bowen strike and from then on were the most likely winners. It was not to be for Nuno but he knows this point and performance give him a platform to build on. Continue reading...

Ange Postecoglou's nightmare start to life as Nottingham Forest manager continued on Saturday with defeat by Sunderland a fifth game without a victory, but are there positives from the performances?

Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris says his side are "ready for this fight" after securing their first win of the season with a 1-0 victory at Nottingham Forest.

Sunderland continued their dream start back in the Premier League as Omar Alderete’s first-half goal elevated them into the Champions League places but for Nottingham Forest, for whom qualifying for Europe was not enough for Nuno Espírito Santo to keep his job beyond the season’s first international break, the wait for Ange Postecoglou’s first win in charge at the City Ground stretches to five games. Postecoglou took an understandably low-key approach to entering the City Ground dugout for the first time as Forest manager before the game, but it was the Sunderland fans who were celebrating come full-time after Alderete, their Paraguayan defender signed for £10m from Getafe in the summer, headed in the winning strike. Continue reading...

Steve Stone, Ian Woan, Mark Crossley, Jason Lee and co reminisce about Forest’s 1995-96 Uefa Cup campaign We beat Malmö in the first round, which brought back good memories of beating them to win the [1978‑79] European Cup. We were 2-0 down at half-time against Bayern in the second leg of the quarter-final, 4-1 on aggregate, and I looked at the players and decided that if we were going to go out we may as well go out in a blaze of glory. Continue reading...

Northern Irishman on how he was sacked by Forest, the role of data in football and not getting the England job Over the past few weeks Martin O’Neill’s memories of a Friday afternoon in June 2019 have risen up with fresh clarity. This month Nuno Espírito Santo was sacked as the manager of Nottingham Forest by the club’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, in a scenario that echoed O’Neill’s fate six years previously. O’Neill had meant so much to Forest fans after his key role as a player in the club’s greatest period in their history, winning the league and then successive European Cups under Brian Clough in 1979 and 1980. But the 73‑year‑old is too intelligent to overplay the comparison to Nuno. O’Neill’s final managerial post, at Forest, lasted 19 games, while Nuno achieved huge progress in his 21 months in charge. Forest were serious contenders for Champions League qualification until the final weeks of last season. Continue reading...

Manager on borrowed time after loss to Crystal Palace Bilic could ask Noble and Collins to join coaching team West Ham’s concerns over Nuno Espírito Santo’s financial demands could open the door for Slaven Bilic to replace Graham Potter, who is clinging on to his job after a dreadful start to the season. David Sullivan, West Ham’s largest shareholder, is considering his options after defeat against Crystal Palace on Saturday and is widely expected to sack Potter soon. No decision has been made and, as it stands, the former Chelsea manager will be in charge for the trip to Everton next Monday. The feeling inside and outside the club is that Sullivan’s lack of clarity over his next move has provided Potter with a reprieve. West Ham have held informal talks with Nuno about taking over but sources have cautioned that the former Nottingham Forest manager could be too expensive. There are also indications that the is prepared to wait for another job should West Ham prove unwilling to agree to his terms. Continue reading...