“Maybe I’m not a failed manager who was lucky enough to get this job,” Ange Postecoglou told reporters on Friday afternoon, “but maybe I’m a manager where, given time, the story always ends the same way. At all my previous clubs it ends the same: me with a trophy.”
Postecoglou was generally optimistic ahead of this weekend’s match with Chelsea as pressure mounted on his position at Nottingham Forest. A seven-game winless streak was a nightmare at the start of his tenure at the club, and an eighth has made his position untenable. This time there will be no trophy ending.
Just minutes after the whistle against Chelsea, Forest announced that the club had parted ways with Postecoglou. He has now been in charge for 39 days the shortest managerial reign in Premier League history.
Evangelos Marinakis must take much of the blame. A failure to repair the relationship with Nuno Espirito Santo saw the latter leave last month, just months after leading the club to Europe for the first time since 1995.
During that three-decade gap, Forest had dropped as low as the third tier. Marinakis may have bankrolled their rise, but Nuno was the mastermind behind their best days this side of the millennium.
Relationships break down. But the succession plan here had failed. Postecoglou came in to deal with the mess, but leaves as Forest is caught in a forest fire.
He has proven to be a capable coach in the right environment, and the trophies with Brisbane Roar, Australia, Yokohama F. Marinos, Celtic and Spurs prove that. But the stylistic shift from Nuno’s pragmatism to Ange’s adventurous plan was too big to realize mid-season.
Hindsight helps, but this was predicted by many long before the quick dismissal of the struggling coach on Saturday.
Forest, just one point above the relegation places, must get the next appointment right. While for Postecoglou, his decision to immediately dive back into Premier League management could have caused irreparable damage to his reputation on these shores.
It has taken a huge amount of confidence for the 60-year-old to reach this stage, becoming a trailblazer for Australian coaches in the process. Despite his dismissal from Spurs, his stock was relatively solid considering last season’s Europa League win.
But his unwavering confidence meant he was too quick to jump at the chance to bounce back from his tenure at Tottenham. A desire to correct oneself, perhaps. Although a mid-season move to a team practiced in tactics a world apart from his own has seriously backfired.
Ange’s time in the Premier League was full of memorable quips, an authentic media-friendly personality and a tactical plan that was daring, entertaining and sometimes implosive.
His ill-fated Forest spell means we are unlikely to see this happen again in the Premier League. For the neutral parties there is at least some shame in this.
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