By Victor Kanayo
Nottingham Forest on Tuesday sacked Steve Cooper following a poor run of performance in the Premier League.
In his last 13 matches, Cooper has only managed to win one.
Foretold Exit
Forest lost 2-0 against Tottenham last Friday night and pressure has been mounting on the Welshman for weeks after a string of disappointing results has left them just above the bottom three.
Cooper survived a damaging 5-0 defeat at Fulham and a 1-1 draw at Wolves this month but Forest have acted after last Friday’s 2-0 home loss to Tottenham.
The club’s only win since early September was at home to Aston Villa on 5 November.
Cooper was close to the sack on more than one occasion since he won promotion via the playoffs in May 2022.
Strong supporter backing appeared to play a part in keeping him in post but the fanbase became more split over his future and Marinakis has decided a change is necessary, informing Cooper of his exit on Tuesday.
Nuno Switch
Shortly after his removal, reports from England indicate that Nuno Espírito Santo has agreed to take over as the club’s new manager.
Nuno is out of work after being dismissed by the Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad early in November, months after he won the title there. His most recent Premier League post was an ill-fated 17-game spell at Spurs that ended in November 2021.
Portuguese Pedigree
Before that, Nuno – a client of the agent Jorge Mendes – led Wolves into the top flight and kept them there for three seasons.
The Portuguese is set to sign a two-and-a-half-year deal at the City Ground.
Forest also held talks with the former Eintracht Frankfurt manager Oliver Glasner, who expressed a willingness to take the job, but Glasner was behind Nuno in the thinking of Forest’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis.
Julen Lopetegui was on Forest’s radar but discussions with the former Wolves manager did not progress.
