Morgan Gibbs-White sensationally claimed that he can ‘feel like he can finally breathe’ after a ‘difficult couple of months’ following Sean Dyche’s first match in charge of Nottingham Forest.
The forward, who scored a penalty in his side’s 2-0 Europa League win against Porto, endured a turbulent pre-season after Forest tussled with transfer suitors Tottenham in a bid to keep him at the City Ground.
While Gibbs-White ultimately opted to stay in Nottingham, things were no more settled at the club, with owner Evangelos Marinakis making the seismic decision to sack manager Nuno Espirito Santo amid public tension after just three games.
The Greek shipping tycoon opted to install his compatriot Ange Postecoglou, himself despatched by Tottenham over the summer.
Postecoglou then oversaw a disastrous 39-day tenure at the club as Forest’s form fell off a cliff as they failed to win any of their eight games.
The former Celtic manager was sacked 20 minutes after last weekend’s 3-0 defeat by Chelsea, with Dyche brought in on the eve of the Porto clash.
Morgan Gibbs-White had no problem sharing his true feelings on the arrival of Sean Dyche
The player has already featured under three managers this season following the shock exit of new head coach Ange Postecoglou
But for Gibbs-White, the change has been immediate and dramatic.
‘I feel like I can finally breathe,’ he told TNT Sports at full-time ‘It’s been a difficult couple of months here with all the changes that have happened, the bad performances.
‘So just happy to get our first win in nine games and to do it here at the City Ground and the European nights, it’s an incredible feeling and there’s no one here that deserves it more than the stadium, the fans.
‘So we’re delighted to get three points on the table and those three points are for the fans for sticking by us.’
Sharing insight into Dyche’s first few days at the club, he continued: ‘That was the first thing the gaffer came in and said, “last season you had a real identity, a real structure to how you play” and he wants to bring that in, and he also wants to build on top of that, and I think we showed that tonight.
‘We were solid, hard to break down and when we went forward we could have been a bit more clinical, a bit better, but we take the three points and we move on.’
‘It’s only been one game and we’ve only had a few training sessions, but you can feel the morale within the stadium, you can feel the morale within the group – it feels a lot higher, a lot more energetic,’ Gibbs-White added.
‘It feels a lot more positive and that’s the way it needs to be and it needs to stay like that for us to continue and try to push forward. That’s credit to the manager.’
In the first match of the Dyche era Gibbs-White netted from the spot in the 2-0 win over Porto
The manager is keen to stabilise the club quickly as they languish in the relegation zone
Postecoglou takes the unwanted record of holding the second shortest reign of any permanent Premier League manager to leave a club during a league season, behind Sam Allardyce, who left Leeds after 30 days in charge back in 2023.
In his eight matches across all competitions, the Australian-Greek manager lost all but two of those games, which were draws to newly promoted side Burnley and Real Betis in the Europa League.
In his first pre-matchday press conference, Dyche defended Marinakis’ ambition for the club as he set out his initial plan for coming in to a club now 18th in the Premier League standings.
‘He spoke very openly about the challenge. I don’t think he thinks it’s a gimme just because of last season,’ Dyche said.
‘He’s been around football a long time with Olympiacos and then here. So stability is the first move – but that’s not acceptable for the whole run of being Nottingham Forest manager.
‘I don’t want that. I don’t want to sit here and go: “Well, that’s OK then”. I always say to players don’t accept “alrightness”. It doesn’t get you anything. Let’s push for more.
‘As a football manager, a football coach and football players, you should be wanting more – but the first thing is: can we just stabilise the situation?
‘It still needs the basics put back into the team from my point of view, because they have lost sight of that a little bit.’
With an opening win in Europe under his belt, Dyche will now take his side to Bournemouth on Sunday when Premier League action returns.
