Nottingham Forest manager Ange Postecoglou thanks the fans (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Nottingham Forest manager Ange Postecoglou has spoken at length about his future as manager at the City Ground after getting off to a poor start since taking the job.
Forest finished 7th under former manager Nuno Espirito Santo last season, but made the surprise decision to make a change at the start of this season.
Postecoglou was available after being sacked by Tottenham at the end of the previous campaign, and he is winless in his first seven games in charge of his new employers.
Unsurprisingly, this has already led to speculation that Forest will sack the Australian tactician, but he has also called for patience and also given more context to his plight at Spurs.
Ange Postecoglou’s speech on the exit of Nottingham Forest and Tottenham
Speaking at his press conference today, as quoted by journalist Ben Jacobs on X, Postecoglou was clearly feeling frustrated as he answered questions about his future.
The 60-year-old clearly feels he deserves far more credit for winning the Europa League with Spurs last season, even though the club’s league form was truly poor and they finished in 17th place.
See Postecoglou’s full explanation of how everything worked out for him at Tottenham below:
“I guess from my point of view I’m just out of place, not here, just in general. If you look at it through the prism of me being a failed manager who’s lucky enough to get this job, I know you’re smiling at me, but that’s what’s been said, so of course these first five weeks it looks like this guy is under pressure.
“But there is another story… I arrived in the Premier League two years ago and I took over at Tottenham, the president told me. [Daniel Levy] that this club must win a trophy. He said we tried to bring in winners: José [Mourinho]Antonio Conte, and it didn’t work. We need something different. This offended me a little because I consider myself a winner.
“I took over Spurs who finished eighth. A massive club, but no European football, and can’t go two years without European football. We finished fifth in my first year and every time Harry Kane scores a goal [for Bayern after leaving Spurs] I said, “I wish he’d stayed just one more year.” It would have been handy to have him after finishing fifth.
“But somehow this year disappeared from the record books. It was even used as the reason why I lost my job, because even Tottenham decided to exclude the first ten games. Yet the first ten games here [at Forest] are apparently important. Anyway, we finished fifth. I reintegrated them into European football, where a club like Tottenham should be.
“Then I was in a meeting and I was told we needed a trophy because it would mean everything to the football club. That’s great. We’re winning a trophy. We’re getting rid of the ‘Spursy’ label. [We get] Champions League football, which brings rewards and the opportunity to recruit better players. But all I’ve heard since I finished at Tottenham is that we finished 17th last year.
“So if you look at it through the prism of finishing 17th, then I’m a failed manager who’s lucky to get another opportunity. But again, if I have to explain why we finished 17th, it’s really basic. There’s no need to be too in-depth. Just look at the last five or six team sheets from last season to see what I prioritized. [the Europa League]and who was on the bench. And in the last game against Brighton the players celebrated for two days, which I allowed because I thought they deserved it.
“So yeah, we finished 17th. But if people think that’s a reflection of me and my coaching, I think they’re seeing things through the prism of me just not fitting in. So we get to where we are now. [at Forest] where there’s a different story to tell, that maybe I’m not a failed manager who was lucky enough to get this job and maybe instead I’m a manager who, if you give it time, the story always ends the same way. In all my previous clubs, [it ends] with me and a trophy.
Should Forest stay with Postecoglou?
Forest now have a big decision to make, and it will be interesting to see if they are patient enough to stick with Postecoglou a little longer, even if results don’t improve immediately.
To some extent there is no point in changing coaches too frequently, but it would also be unwise of the club not to act to try to turn around their predicament.
In truth, it just seems like sacking Nuno wasn’t the right decision, as the Portuguese tactician had done such an impressive job last season.
Nuno is now back in Premier League management with West Ham, and there will likely be a lot of focus on him and how he is doing compared to Postecoglou at Forest.
Would you give Big Ange more time or is he deluding himself about his real quality at this level? Give us your opinion in the comments!
