Yahoo News 'No doubt' – our writers disagree about Nuno’s Nottingham Forest future
Speculation about the future of head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has reemerged as Nottingham Forest turn attention to the 2024/25 season.
Talk about whether a change might be made at the City Ground did the rounds shortly after the final game of last term. And fresh reports have once again cast doubt on the Portuguese’s position.
Over the weekend it was said the Reds could turn to Fulham’s Marco Silva if Nuno departs, amid interest from his homeland and Spain. And now a report in Italy has suggested Forest have been turned down by former AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli.
READ MORE: Forest in free agent manager 'proposal' as Nuno future thrown into fresh doubt
READ MORE: Join our Forest WhatsApp group to get the latest news direct to your phone
Earlier in the summer, Nuno had been mooted as a potential candidate for the Bayern Munich job before Vincent Kompany was appointed. Meanwhile, the Reds were previously linked with ex-Brighton and Hove Albion boss Roberto De Zerbi and Fiorentina’s Vincenzo Italiano.
The rumours came after a cryptic comment from Nuno in his final pre-match press conference of the campaign. Asked whether he hoped to be part of owner Evangelos Marinakis’ vision for the club, he simply said: “I’m here now.”
So what does the future hold? Should Forest stick with Nuno? Our writers have their say on the latest talk surrounding the 50-year-old.
Forest reporter Sarah Clapson
A few eyebrows were raised among the media when Nuno made that slightly ambiguous remark about his future before the clash with Burnley. At the time, it seemed unwise to read too much into it. But since then, there has been a fair bit of speculation about the Reds head coach.
A summer with even the slightest hint of uncertainty is really the last thing Forest need. The transfer window opens this week and the club have plenty of work on their hands trying to balance the books and strengthen the squad.
There is the basis of a good group already in place; the foundations are there. And Nuno deserves the opportunity to build on them.
For some fans, the jury might still be out on whether he is the right choice long-term as performances and results haven’t always been convincing. There is no doubt significant improvement on the pitch will be required, if the Reds are to push on when the new campaign begins.
But Forest showed glimpses of what they are capable of under Nuno last season, and those glimpses came amid what the man himself referred to as “distractions” - not least a points deduction, refereeing controversies and a number of absences. With a full pre-season to work with the players and some key additions brought in, there is no reason why the Portuguese cannot oversee progress in 2024/25.
Content editor James Pallatt
Another day, another claim, and yet more doubt cast over Nuno Espirito Santo’s future at Nottingham Forest. This time, it’s Stefano Pioli, the former AC Milan boss, who has left the San Siro this summer.
Evangelos Marinakis is said to have offered free agent Pioli the top job at the City Ground, but was rejected, despite the Italian understood to be interested in swapping Serie A for the Premier League. Pioli, according to reports in Italy, is holding out for a better offer, having won the Serie A title during five years in Milan.
Before Pioli, it was Marco Silva. Before Silva, it was Roberto De Zerbi. Before De Zerbi, it was Vincenzo Italiano. Who will it be next? With every new manager link it does feel less and less likely Nuno will be in charge for the start of the new season. There’s no smoke without fire and all that, and Nuno himself hardly sounded certain about his future even before the end of last season.
“I’m here now” was his response when asked if he hoped to be part of Marinakis’ vision for the club, ahead of the final match of the campaign. It’s hard not to read between the lines of that comment. And if Nuno is not totally committed to Forest and vice versa, there will surely be only one outcome. A new manager.
Content editor Brian Dick
Ever since the end of the season there seems to have been a trickle of stories suggesting Manager A, or head coach B has been sounded out about Nuno Espirito Santo’s job. A 17th place finish and a 27 per cent win ratio has clearly not set hearts aflutter in the City Ground boardroom.
But – and this comes from an ardent Steve Cooper advocate – I’d concede that replacing the Welshman with Nuno probably was the right move. Which is an insight into my philosophical starting point around these issues, I tend to prefer continuity and believe that stability is a vastly under-rated component in progress.
Set against that I’m no lover of Nuno’s work, his Wolves team did exactly what they should have done by winning promotion from the Championship, and he came up with a formula to keep the Molineux outfit in the Premier League. Credit to him for that. Once the formula stopped working it was very, very tough viewing. It never worked at Tottenham – but it did, just about at Forest.
I can’t honestly write this and express a belief that he deserves to lose his job. Therefore the only conclusion available is that he doesn’t. There were enough mitigating factors in terms of injuries to explain why his Reds team struggled for consistency – especially up front where Forest were over reliant on Chris Wood.
I felt Nuno bought into the histrionics and victim narrative that was unhelpful towards the end of the season, but those final scenes at Turf Moor suggested a unity between management, players and fans that is a key strength at Nottingham Forest. For me it’s ‘stick’ rather than ‘twist’. Just.
