Check, mate: Ange Postecoglou refused to change in Forest reign that never got going

The Australian's time at Forest came to an end after defeat to Chelsea on Saturday. 

OUT OF THE WOODS: Nottingham Forest head coach Ange Postecoglou during the Premier League match against Chelsea before being sacked after only 39 days and eight matches in charge. Pic: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.

With a bag over his shoulder and an ignominious record in his pocket, Ange Postecoglou disappeared quietly out the side door at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon at the end of a 39-day reign that was never destined to succeed despite his unwavering self-belief.

That he was sacked following another second-half collapse against Chelsea was entirely unsurprising considering Forest’s hierarchy had already been sounding out alternative hires.

That he lasted less than seven weeks, the shortest reign of any permanent manager in Premier League history, without getting anything resembling a tune from a squad that possesses plenty of talent should still raise eyebrows.

Then again, the warning signs were there from the moment his appointment was announced in early September. He made it clear that a seismic shift in style would be introduced. Except he was attempting to do so without a pre-season for his physically demanding methods to be communicated to players among whom several were resistant out of loyalty to his predecessor.

Postecoglou's biggest problem was that he inherited a team designed to thrive under Nuno Espirito Santo’s strategy of defending deep and breaking at pace.

In particular Forest’s defenders lacked the speed to make Postecoglou’s high line a success. During increasingly tetchy, contradictory press conferences he vowed to introduce his tactics gradually but on the training pitch there were instant grumbles around more running and less ball work.

One moment he was insisting that the players were absorbing his instructions and that would translate to improvements on the pitch. The next he was telling reporters there was a “nervousness” in the performances of certain players while he admitted some remained “uncertain” about his methods.

After only his second game in charge, a late Carabao Cup defeat away to Swansea City, Postecoglou tore strips off his team to such an extent that several people standing outside the dressing room were startled by what they heard behind the door. If some of the squad had doubts about him, such a fiery reaction to a defeat did little to help convince them.

His mixed messaging continued on Friday afternoon when asked if he was confident that time on the training pitch with the bulk of his group during the international break had helped him to convey his plans.

“Some look at the weeds but I look at what is growing," he said. "I’m really excited as I have a group of young players willing to change.” 

Equally there was an acknowledgement of his precarious position when, with a wry smile, he revealed that he only agreed a lease for an apartment last week having been in temporary digs since arriving at the club. “It may be a bad decision on my behalf,” he said. Those keys will be handed back soon.

So where now for Forest? They are in a relegation battle but next face Porto on Thursday in a Europa League fixture they could really do with winning to stand a chance of progressing.

It would be a surprise if the new man is not in place by then, though there remains doubts over who will be perched on what will remain a piping hot seat.

That Roberto Mancini and Sean Dyche are the top targets points to a club still lacking a defined strategy. Both view football in very different ways – Mancini more in line with the hierarchy’s desire to be more dynamic and attacking, Dyche closer to Nuno’s approach that had served them so well.

Edu Gaspar, the head of football operations who Nuno could not get on with, will be central to the decision and favours the more progressive style. Yet it will ultimately fall on Evangelos Marinakis, the owner who listened to his fans’ grumblings and wielded the axe on Postecoglou. No one can ever be sure exactly what he wants.

And what next for Postecoglou? His decision to take this job was a result of both naivety and ego. The latter is unlikely to be dented too severely and many club owners will be prepared to give him another chance considering the wider context.

Even on Friday, in what proved his final tete-a-tete with the press pack, he remained unflappably convinced that he would succeed.

“The only thing that will stop me is if somebody says you're not going to continue in this role,” he said.

“Nothing else will stop me from bringing success to this football club. And people can, again, like they were doing with the second year proclamation last year, mock me and laugh about it.

“But in the end, who was right? I don't say that just because I did it at Tottenham, because I did it at Celtic, I did it at Yokohama, I did it with the Australian national team, I did it at Brisbane Roar, I did it at South Melbourne.

“Every job I've had has finished the same way. So why would I think that all of a sudden, in this moment of new beginnings, that I need to change? Ain't going to happen.” 

This job finished differently but wherever he ends up the belief will remain impenetrable.