Nottingham Forest have appointed Nuno Espirito Santo on a two-and-a-half-year contract to replace Steve Cooper. Cooper was sacked on Tuesday after two years, with Forest having lost five of their past six league games and sitting 17th in the table.
Former Wolves and Tottenham manager Nuno was sacked by Saudi Pro-League club Al-Ittihad in November.
The 49-year-old’s first match in charge will be Saturday’s home Premier League game against Bournemouth. Nuno spent four years at Wolves, guiding the club to promotion from the Championship in his first season before consecutive seventh-placed finishes in the Premier League, while they also reached the Europa League quarterfinals.
The former goalkeeper left Molineux in the summer of 2021 to join Spurs but was sacked after less than four months in charge after a run of five defeats in seven games. He joined Al-Ittihad in July 2022 and led the Jeddah-based side to the Saudi title last season, but was dismissed 12 games into the new campaign after a run of poor results.
Forest have won once in their past 13 top-flight games, taking eight points in that period. They have picked up one point from their past six matches and are five points ahead of third-from-bottom Luton, who have a match in hand. Analysis
BBC Sport’s Simon Stone
The tricky bit for Nuno will be to navigate the strength of support for Cooper and mould it into something resembling what he had at Wolves. In much the same way as Cooper did at the City Ground, Nuno created a special bond with the supporters at Molineux, who revelled in the way in which the Portuguese also took their club from Championship mediocrity into the Premier League and then into Europe.
That run was based around a specific recruitment plan that allied Nuno with a largely Portuguese squad that had the heavy hand of football agent Jorge Mendes over it. He also used a trusted three-man defence with wing backs, and relied mainly on a counter-attacking style.
Given how much Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has invested in players over the past three transfer windows, it will be fascinating to see what reshaping Nuno is allowed to execute next month. At least he has time to work with his squad though.
After the home game with Manchester United on 30 December, Forest have a single Premier League game – at Brentford – before the encounter with Arsenal at the City Ground on 30 January.
Source: BBC
