Nottingham Forest: Ange Postecoglou’s dismissal was not the right person

Forest’s problems do not stem from Postecoglou, and it would be unfair to point all the fingers at him.

Problems arose in the summer, as Edu, Forest’s global head of sport after being officially appointed in June, clashed with Nuno.

The duo disagreed, particularly over Nuno’s desire to sign winger Adama Traoré, someone he worked with successfully at Wolves, from Fulham.

Edu’s appointment could be seen as the start of the problems, just from the point of view of what happened with Nuno and how the season has unraveled since then.

Edu wanted younger signings with greater resale value, not unrealistic in modern football, but Nuno was unhappy not to get his man as 21-year-old Omari Hutchinson joined for a club record £37.5m from Ipswich.

Hutchinson was eventually left out of the Europa League squad, although Forest sources indicated there was no other option when looking at the balance of the squad and who should be reduced.

Nuno was not sold to left-back Quiabano, who was on the verge of joining Brighton, with the Seagulls set to send him on loan to the Championship, before Edu pursued a deal and then sent him back to Botafogo on loan.

Edu has also become more visible on the training ground since Nuno’s departure in early September – something unusual for a sporting director, but a contrast to his previous routine, having chosen to distance himself from a potentially combustible situation when Nuno was in charge.

He has been helped by head of football operations Ross Wilson, who was asked to stay on to oversee the final weeks of the transfer window and leave when the time is right, after agreeing to join Newcastle in a deal announced last week, and Edu has since stepped up more naturally to fill the gap.

But fingers will also be pointed at the now former Arsenal midfielder.

Forest spent around £180m in the summer and recovered more than £100m, most of which came from winger Anthony Elanga’s £55m move to Newcastle, after he signed the Sweden international for £15m in 2023.

Other sales, such as goalkeeper Matt Turner to Lyon and Andrew Omobamidele to Strasbourg, meant the transfer of fringe players, although sources suggested Danilo, who joined Botafogo, was reluctant to leave Forest, while Jota Silva’s move to Portugal collapsed at the last minute.

In the final hour of the European summer transfer window, a deal for the striker to join Sporting Lisbon on loan for 4 million euros was agreed, after weeks of negotiations, but the documents did not reach the Portuguese League registration platform in time.

Instead, Silva moved to Besiktas – a club he was happy to join – where the Turkish window remained open until 12 September.

Of their summer signings, only loanees Douglas Luiz and Oleksandr Zinchenko against Chelsea are included, while James McAtee, Dylan Pacua, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Hutchinson – for whom Forest paid more than £100m – are not included – so is there something wrong with the squad and have Forest not bought well enough?

Postecoglou didn’t get into a fully functioning machine, but it was already becoming clear that it wasn’t a good fit.

Forrest is now looking to make a quick appointment, something Marinakis will have to get right this time.