Vitor Pereira likes to wind down after games with an ice-cold lager or two, but should he replace Sean Dyche at Nottingham Forest he may feel the need for a stiff drink.
The Portuguese former Wolves boss is the front-runner to be Forest’s fourth manager of the campaign and hopes to be in place in time for next week’s Europa League clash at Fenerbahce, where he had two spells as boss.
With Forest, though, nothing can ever be guaranteed.
Whoever comes in, they will know that Evangelos Marinakis has already sacked three coaches this season, and that player power has been a significant factor in the club setting a Premier League record by having four permanent bosses in the same campaign.
Nuno Espirito Santo left only after three games, undone by issues behind the scenes. The players were never, in football speak, ‘having’ his successor Ange Postecoglou and after an initial bounce, several decided they didn’t much like Sean Dyche, either.
Although Postecoglou’s reign was a shocker from start to finish and Dyche’s ran out of steam, it is about time that Forest’s key men took some responsibility for their performances instead of blaming everything on the poor bloke in the dugout. Yet calling them out now will not work.
Former Wolves manager Vitor Pereira is the frontrunner to become a record fourth permanent manager at Nottingham Forest this season
The Forest players turned against Sean Dyche, who was sacked after a 0-0 draw with bottom club Wolves on Wednesday
Postecoglou made his charges grumpy because they felt he had dismissed their performances in 2024-25, when Forest finished seventh and reached the FA Cup semi-finals under Nuno Espirito Santo. When Dyche turned on the fringe players after the FA Cup defeat at Wrexham, something snapped between manager and squad, never to be mended.
If it is to be Pereira, Forest need him to make the impact he did at Wolves, when he took over in December 2024 with the club staring at relegation, and led them to a comfortable survival. The less said about what came next, the better. But he knows the drill with Marinakis, having won the double for him in Greece with Olympiacos in 2015 (he was sacked soon after to make way for now-Fulham boss Marco Silva).
The new man must hit the ground running and these are the issues he will have to fix if Forest are still to be a top-flight club next term.
Show Gibbs-White some love
Morgan Gibbs-White is an enigma. At his best, he is one of the leading No 10s in the Premier League. The time has come this season, though, for him to start playing like the star he has become at the City Ground.
When they rejected Tottenham’s advances last summer, Tottenham made Gibbs-White the highest-paid player in the history of the club. His balance sheet since reads seven goals and four assists in 35 games.
Respectable numbers, but hardly ground-breaking. The benchmark for a top-class No 10 is to reach double figures in both categories.
With Gibbs-White, though, it is never about the football alone. The 26-year-old is a relatively open book: when he is up, everyone knows about it – and the same when he is down.
It must be said that Gibbs-White has always given 100 per cent for his managers at Forest and has never sought to undermine them. He runs his heart out and tries to lead by example.
Morgan Gibbs-White is an enigma. At his best, he is one of the premier No 10s in the Premier League – but the time has come for him to play like he is paid
Forest need Pereira to make the impact he did at Wolves, when he took over in December 2024 with the club staring at relegation, and led them to a comfortable survival
But he is also a charismatic guy and that means his mood sometimes shapes that of others. For a Forest boss, that can be when the red warning signs start flashing. Often captain this term, some – though not all – have wondered whether Gibbs-White has always behaved like one.
There may be a time and a place to sit Gibbs-White down and explain a few home truths, but this is not it. Along with Elliot Anderson, Gibbs-White is Forest’s most gifted attacker and if he hits his stride, there is still time to convince Thomas Tuchel to take him to the World Cup this summer. Indeed, Daily Mail Sport understands Tuchel has never quite seen what all the fuss is about with Gibbs-White.
So there is the script for a new Forest boss: I know how good you are, Morgan. Now prove Tuchel wrong, keep us up and get yourself on the plane to North America. It could be a powerful message.
It’s not all about survival
This is where it gets really tricky for a new man. However unlikely it might seem, Marinakis still has an eye on Champions League football next season. Forest can achieve it by winning the Europa League, and they face a two-legged play-off against Fenerbahce, with the first game in Istanbul on February 19.
The further Forest progress in Europe, the more they will have a fiendishly difficult balance to strike: Europa League on Thursday, Premier League on Sunday.
It might give them a better chance of avoiding relegation if they are knocked out of the Europa League but any coach who leaves out key players in Europe is unlikely to win the long-term favour of Marinakis.
The challenge is as much mental as physical. Fed-up players feel tiredness more than happy ones. So a new coach needs to create a core group of mature professionals who can drive standards in these remaining weeks.
Even though they are injured, this should include last season’s heroes Matz Sels and Chris Wood. Then there is club captain Ryan Yates, Neco Williams, Taiwo Awoniyi, Nikola Milenkovic, Ola Aina and Gibbs-White. This group can provide the foundations on which the rest of the season can be built.
Owner Evangelos Marinakis still wants Forest in the Champions League next season – which they can achieve by winning the Europa League
The new manager would do well to build a formidable leadership group around the likes of club captain Ryan Yates
Reshape the squad
The transfer windows have passed, so there is no chance for a new coach to bring in fresh players. What he can do, though, is remove the ‘us and them’ feeling that Dyche managed to create.
Dyche’s extraordinary rant at Wrexham effectively told half the squad he did not trust them. But that must be redressed as Forest spent more than Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain last summer and although most of those they signed have laboured, it does not mean they are poor players. Dan Ndoye, for example, was wanted by Italian champions Napoli, who are coached by Antonio Conte. A pretty good reference for his CV.
Coaches will always have players they rate highly and others who struggle to convince them, but Forest’s latest boss must find a way to use as many as possible.
Because on paper, Forest’s squad is better than many of those in the bottom half of the Premier League. Now is the chance to make best use of it – before it is too late.
