Nuno Espirito Santo axed as Nottingham Forest announce shock replacement

Last Updated on 9 September 2025

Nottingham Forest have relieved Nuno Espirito Santo of his duties in a sudden decision that could herald a seismic change at the City Ground.

The dismissal comes amid internal tensions, between Nuno and club owner Evangelos Marinakis, that reportedly became irreparable following public remarks about the team’s transfer plans.

Speaking to the media ahead of Forest’s Premier League match against Crystal Palace, Nuno Espirito Santo said his relationship with Marinakis had “worsened”.

Less than three weeks later, he’s been sacked.

Nottingham Forest has already confirmed the appointment of a new manager.

Ange Postecoglou takes over from Nuno Espirito Santo at Nottingham Forest

Just over 12 hours after the news broke about Nuno’s departure, Nottingham Forest confirmed the arrival of Ange Postecoglou as the new manager.

The former Spurs boss, Ange Postecoglou, will take charge of Nottingham Forest from their match against Arsenal, this Saturday.

Postecoglou was sacked by Tottenham, following their Europa League triumph against Manchester United. Despite winning Spurs their first trophy in 17 years, the Australian’s poor performances in the league were not good enough to earn him another season at the club.

Marinakis, though, has a close relationship with Postecoglou, as reported by the Nottingham Post. The Greek owner presented Ange with a special prize for becoming the first coach of Greek origin to win a European trophy.

Could Ange Postecoglou repeat his Europa League heroics with Nottingham Forest?

For what it’s worth, Nuno did a tremendous job during his 20-month tenure with Forest.

The Portuguese coach guided the Tricky Trees to European qualification after a superb 2024-25 Premier League campaign.

Ange inherits a talented bunch of players at Nottingham Forest. Having won the 2024/25 Europa League, the former Celtic man gets another shot but with a different set of players.

The real challenge will be implementing his unique style at the City Ground. Under Nuno’s coaching, the Forest players were used to sitting deep and hitting teams on the counter. Postecoglou’s system is quite the opposite.

He was constantly criticized by pundits for playing a high line and for the amount of injuries caused by his demanding style of play.

It will be interesting to see how Ange fares with a squad that has little to no experience of playing that high up. Especially a team that recorded the least amount of sprints compared to Ange’s Spurs side ranked first.

Will he change his philosophy or will Marinakis give him a grace period to settle in? After all, Postecoglou always wins things in his second season…