Steve Cooper’s exit was no surprise but is Nuno a sideways step for Forest?

The former Wolves manager has a hard act to follow despite having the backing of Evangelos Marinakis and the City Ground hierarchy.

Forest have held talks with former Wolves and Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo about taking over at the City Ground.

In many ways the appointment of Steve Cooper’s replacement at Nottingham Forest has been more than a year in the making. A 4-0 defeat by Leicester in October 2022 started the process but the head coach’s popularity earned him a new contract and an upturn kept him in situ until the inevitability of his sacking on Tuesday.

Various alternatives were sought last season, from Rafa Benítez to Sean Dyche to Bruno Lage, but the mixture of a lack of interest in the role or an acceptance that they would not be a considerable improvement on Cooper meant plans to change were shelved. Eventually, after coming down to a choice between the former Eintracht Frankfurt head coach Oliver Glasner and Nuno Espírito Santo, the latter was favoured.