Following thirty-nine days and eight encounters since his appointment, Ange Postecoglou’s spell with Nottingham Forest has concluded.
The 3-0 setback against Chelsea on Saturday served as the ultimate factor, resulting from an eight-game stretch without a victory. Consequently, owner Evangelos Marinakis determined to relieve the Australian of his duties shortly after the final whistle at the City Ground.
This decision followed a lengthy international break during which Postecoglou remained in his position, although numerous managers were considered for his role.
Postecoglou’s time in charge is among the shortest in Premier League history.
Officially, Sam Allardyce’s 30-day tenure with Leeds United in 2023 marks the record. He was brought in on May 3 in an effort to prevent Leeds from being relegated. After this objective failed, his contract ended on June 2. Les Reed is next on the list (40 days). Reed was dismissed 40 days after assuming leadership at Charlton in 2006.
Besides failing to secure three points from any game, Postecoglou watched his team score a mere seven goals while conceding 18. Interestingly, Forest finds themselves in the identical position as Tottenham Hotspur when Postecoglou departed the north London club four months prior: 17th.
Upon Postecoglou’s arrival, Forest had accumulated four points from their initial three matches. Postecoglou’s inaugural game involved a return to north London and a familiar opponent in Arsenal.
Due to the condensed nature of the early season schedule, Forest weren’t significantly behind the leading teams. In fact, as the teams entered the field, Arsenal’s stadium commentator remarked, “A victory for Nottingham Forest would elevate them past Arsenal into third position…”
However, what transpired was a dominant performance fueled by Noni Madueke, which initiated Forest’s decline.
The Arsenal winger proved to be unstoppable, despite not scoring himself. The goals were scored by Martín Zubimendi with a powerful strike from distance, Viktor Gyökeres with a simple finish, and Zubimendi again with a close-range header.
Forest’s solitary opportunity came from a Dan Ndoye cross that struck Chris Wood’s chest before surprisingly hitting (and bouncing off) the Arsenal crossbar.
The statistics reinforced the narrative already evident in the 3-0 score: 1.84 xG vs 0.20, 16 shots vs 5. Despite this, Postecoglou remained optimistic, asserting his intention to make his mark at Forest by the midweek game against Swansea.
Pure cinema 🍿
Relive Wednesday’s @Carabao_Cup win 🆚 Forest 🎞 pic.twitter.com/eEgO5USQaa
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) September 19, 2025
The Carabao Cup presented Postecoglou and his squad with a chance to regain their winning form. Playing away against Swansea, a mid-table Championship side, they began like a team well-versed in “Ange-ball.”
Igor Jesus put them ahead in the 15th minute and doubled the lead with a tap-in after a beautiful move in first-half stoppage time.
However, Forest maintained the high tempo in the second half, resulting in an open, end-to-end game. Cameron Burgess’s header in the 68th minute gave Swansea hope.
Forest wasted at least three significant opportunities immediately afterward, before Swansea scored twice in stoppage time — a skillful Zan Vipotnik finish in the 93rd minute, and a stunning Burgess volley four minutes later, securing a surprising victory.
Neco Williams gave Forest an energetic start at Turf Moor with a deflected shot, before Jaidon Anthony took advantage of some uncertain Forest defending to level the score at 1-1.
Both sides had opportunities to claim all three points, but strong goalkeeping and some unlucky instances involving the goal frame ensured the game ended 1-1.
As a result, Postecoglou earned his first point as Forest’s head coach.
The two-time European Cup champions’ first European match in three decades was against Real Betis in the Europa League.
Postecoglou had valid reasons for feeling confident, considering his recent triumph in the same tournament with Spurs just a few months earlier.
Cédric Bakambu gave Betis an early advantage in Seville, but Jesus swiftly equalized with another tap-in following a fluid team move.
Jesus then scored again in the first half with a header, maintaining Forest’s 2-1 lead until the 85th minute.
That’s when former Manchester United winger Antony equalized, prolonging Postecoglou’s wait for his first win as Forest manager, as he rued his team’s inability to close out another game.
Postecoglou’s first home match presented Forest with a genuine opportunity for a positive turnaround.
They comprehensively outperformed the newly-promoted side, achieving 65% possession and amassing 1.68 xG compared to the visitor’s 1.19. Forest also completed more passes, 521 to 258, and registered 22 shots on goal versus Sunderland’s 11.
However, the sole statistic that mattered favored Sunderland.
Despite Forest’s numerous chances, the only goal came from a well-executed header by Omar Alderete. This result caused Forest to drop to 17th in the league.
Postecoglou stated that they were “dominating in every aspect” but failing to secure the win.
The City Ground welcomed back European football with a memorable match against Danish side FC Midtjylland.
Within a chaotic six-minute period in the first half, Ousmane Diao opened the scoring for the visitors, Ndoye equalized for Forest, and Mads Bech Sørensen scored a scrappy goal to restore Midtjylland’s lead at 2-1.
With Forest aggressively pursuing an equalizer from the 24th minute onwards, they became vulnerable to Midtjylland’s counter-attacks. A particularly sharp counter late in the second half resulted in a goal by substitute Valdemar Byskov, making it 3-1.
Wood converted a stoppage-time penalty for the home side, but it only served as a consolation.
By the end of the game, Forest fans were chanting “sacked in the morning” at their head coach, as he became the first manager in a century to fail to win any of his first six games.
Forest descended to 25th place, with just one point from two matches in the Europa League group stage.
Traveling to St. James Park without a win, Forest desperately needed a spark, but despite a display of improved resistance, the outcome was dishearteningly familiar.
Following some committed Forest defending, Bruno Guimarães’s exceptional curler from distance unlocked the game in the second half, paving the way for a Nick Woltemade penalty that sealed Newcastle’s deserved victory.
Newcastle generated 3.45 xG compared to Forest’s 0.30 and registered 18 shots on goal against the visitors’ five.
This left Postecoglou’s position precarious entering the international break, with many anticipating an early end to his tenure at the club.
Postecoglou surprised many observers by surviving the two-week international break in October.
He had earlier stated his commitment to the challenge at Forest, and he reinforced this by defending his Premier League record at Spurs during an unusual press conference the day before hosting Chelsea at the City Ground.
An encouraging first 45 minutes, during which the hosts more than matched Enzo Maresca’s Club World Cup winners, raised hopes of a crucial result, but a triple substitution at halftime by the Chelsea manager transformed the game.
It only took until the 49th minute for Maresca’s changes to pay off, as Josh Acheampong headed Pedro Neto’s cross past a helpless Matz Sels.
The Forest goalkeeper did his manager no favors three minutes later, however, as he failed to keep out a rather tame Neto free kick, which promptly prompted the television cameras to focus on an enraged Marinakis high in the stands at the City Ground.
Approximately 15 minutes later, after Forest had squandered several chances, the cameras shifted to Marinakis’ seat, revealing it to be ominously vacant.
Reece James added some gloss to the result after punishing Sels’ weak punch from a corner.
Moments after the final whistle sounded at the City Ground, Forest confirmed that Postecoglou was once again unemployed.
