Ange Postecoglou: Nottingham Forest appoint ex-Spurs boss as new head coach after Nuno Espirito Santo sacking | Football News

Nottingham Forest have appointed ex-Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou as their new head coach to replace the sacked Nuno Espirito Santo.

Sky Sports News understands the Australian has signed a two-year deal at the City Ground.

Postecoglou returns to management just three months after being sacked by Spurs, despite leading them to Europa League glory to end their 17-year trophy drought.

Postecoglou succeeds Nuno, who was sacked late on Monday night following a breakdown in his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis, and it is understood he wanted to be dismissed.

Greek Marinakis has been an admirer of Postecoglou, whose family are of Greek origin, for some time, and he was quickly identified as the leading candidate to succeed Nuno.

Marinakis said of Postecoglou’s appointment: “We are bringing a coach to the club who has a proven and consistent record of winning trophies.

“His experience of coaching teams at the highest level, along with his desire to build something special with us at Forest, makes him a fantastic person to help us on our journey and achieve consistently all our ambitions.

“After gaining promotion to the Premier League, then building consistently season after season to secure European football, we now must take the right step to compete with the very best and challenge for trophies.

“Ange has the credentials and the track record to do this, and we are excited he is joining us on our ambitious journey.”

Ange to face Arsenal away in first Forest game

Marinakis has given Postecoglou another crack at the Premier League and European football.

The 60-year-old is set for a swift return to north London as Forest visit Tottenham’s rivals Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime.

Postecoglou’s first four games in charge at Forest are all away, with his first home match not until September 27 against Sunderland, live on Sky Sports.

The ex-Celtic boss spent two seasons at Spurs and ended their 17-year trophy drought last season by winning the Europa League.

But 16 days after leading Tottenham to their first European trophy in 41 years, Postecoglou was sacked following the club’s worst-ever Premier League season as they finished 17th with 22 defeats from 38 games.

Just over a month after his sacking, Marinakis presented Postecoglou with a special award in Greece for being the first coach of Greek origin to win a European trophy in the men’s game.

He said: “Ange has spoken many times about Greece. It is very important for a person to be proud and shout about his origins.

“He achieved it with a team that was not winning titles and was struggling. With this success with Tottenham, he made Greece proud.

“He is a very good coach and wherever he goes, he will make Greece proud.”

Can Ange make Forest more dynamic?

Latest from Sky Sports News’ Anton Toloui:

“It’s clear Evangelos Marinakis wants Nottingham Forest 3.0 in the Premier League.

“Steve Cooper got them up, Nuno took them to Europe, and now Ange Postecoglou is in charge of making this team more dynamic and successful.

“Forest have spent big on attackers in the summer, it’s now up to the former Tottenham boss to unlock their potential.

“£35m was spent on Omari Hutchinson, a similar fee also splashed out on Dan Ndoye and Dylane Bakwe, plus James McAtee came in for up to £30m, £25m went to Rennes for Arnaud Kalimuendo and Igor Jesus wasn’t cheap from Botofogo.

“They’ve also given big contracts to Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White.

“Forest can easily name three different front-three capable of competing in the Premier and Europe, it’s down to Postecoglou to unleash them.

“Forest missed out on the Champions League by just a point despite only having the ball for 40 per cent on average in games last season. To put that into context, only Everton and Ipswich had less possession on average.

“Ignore the lazy narrative about club owner Marinakis wanting Postecoglou because he was born in Athens.

“To paraphrase the words of Forest hero Brian Clough, Marinakis ‘wants to win but wants to win it better’. He believes he’s found the man to do just that.”

Another Ange rollercoaster ride in store at Forest?

Postecoglou took the Premier League by storm when he arrived at Spurs in July 2023.

His free-flowing ‘Ange-ball’ style saw Spurs go undefeated for the first 10 league games of the season, including a 2-1 home victory over Liverpool, which put them top of the table.

His first defeat came in a chaotic 4-1 home loss against Chelsea, where he drew criticism for refusing to adapt his style of play even when reduced to nine men. It led him to famously say: “It’s just who we are, mate.”

Despite early-season promise, the campaign finished disappointingly as Spurs lost five of their last seven games to finish fifth and miss out on the Champions League.

Following a difficult start to his second season and a north London derby home defeat to Arsenal in September, Postecoglou defiantly said: “I always win things in my second year.”

This promise kept Postecoglou afloat as Spurs struggled domestically, leading to huge pressure at the end of January after a woeful 2-1 home defeat to relegation-threatened Leicester.

Injuries admittedly hampered Postecoglou, who put all of his eggs in the Europa League basket in an attempt to end Spurs’ 17-year trophy drought.

And he delivered as Tottenham beat Manchester United 1-0 in the final in Bilbao.

But ultimately Tottenham’s dreadful Premier League campaign, which saw them finish 17th on a record low 38 points, ended Postecoglou’s turbulent time at Spurs.

Postecoglou had expressed his desire to stay another year, telling fans at the Europa League victory parade that “season three is better than season two.”

But then-Spurs chairman Daniel Levy cancelled the Postecoglou show, and so he now stars at the City Ground, where he will be hoping to end another club’s trophy drought with Forest winless since 1990 – and also defend his Europa League title. Gareth Hamill