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In a ruthlessly swift decision, Nottingham Forest are poised to appoint Sean Dyche as their manager, just days after sacking Ange Postecoglou a mere 17 minutes after the team's 3-0 defeat to Chelsea. With talks progressing, the Premier League club aims to finalize the deal on Monday. The managerial change comes as Forest languish in 18th place, having secured only one win in their eight league games amid a season of upheaval.
Dyche has had positive talks over the past 24 hours and sources close to the appointment have said his chances of getting the job have improved significantly over the weekend.
Roberto Mancini has also held discussions with Forest officials, while Fulham manager Marco Silva is admired but under contract. There is also a large release clause in Silva's contract that has emerged as a factor, given Forest have already spent on sacking Postecoglou and Nuno Espirito Santo this season. Whether Silva would be prepared to leave Fulham mid-season is also understood to be an issue.
Sources are indicating that Dyche is currently the standalone candidate, given the difficulties in appointing Silva, while the initial interest in Mancini is understood to have cooled.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Nuno just three matches into the campaign and replaced him with Postecoglou. The Australian failed to win a game and his dismissal - 39 days after his appointment on 9 September - meant his stint at Forest is the shortest permanent managerial reign in Premier League history.
Dyche was on the books of Forest as a youth team player in the late 1980s while Brian Clough was manager, but never made a first-team appearance.
He has not had a managerial job since being sacked by Everton in January after just under two years in charge of the Toffees. Dyche won 21, lost 31 and drew 23 of his 75 Premier League matches as Everton boss, guiding the club to 17th and 15th-place finishes.
Prior to that Dyche spent nearly a decade as Burnley manager between October 2012 and April 2022, twice winning promotion to the top flight and helping the Clarets qualify for Europe for the first time since 1967.
He also had a stint in charge of Watford for the 2011–2012 season, only to lose his job following a change of ownership.
Unlike Ange Postecoglou's appointment, Sean Dyche's arrival at Nottingham Forest makes sense as his style of play has historically been more tactically in tune with the brand of football Nuno Espirito Santo employed to bring European football back to the City Ground.
