Sean Dyche became Nottingham Forest’s third manager of the season when he was hired on Tuesday, marking his return to the Premier League after nearly a year away.
The former Burnley and Everton coach replaces Ange Postecoglou, who was fired in ruthless fashion on Saturday around 20 minutes after Forest’s 3-0 home loss to Chelsea that left the team in the relegation zone.
Postecoglou had only been in the job for 39 days, having taken over from the fired Nuno Espirito Santo in what turned out to be a misguided appointment by Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Forest — a back-to-back European champion in 1979 and 1980 _ enjoyed its best campaign in a generation last season, challenging for Champions League qualification until a late collapse but still making it back into European competition via a seventh-place finish in the Premier League.
The feelgood factor at Forest has disappeared after just two months of this season, with the team in third-to-last place on five points from eight games.
Forest has only won one of its 11 games in all competitions — its season opener against Brentford — and has lost its last four.
Dyche, whose first game in charge is against Porto in the Europa League on Thursday, takes over a squad that might be disorientated having already played under two different tactical approaches so far this season.
Initially it was Nuno’s more pragmatic and direct style, before Postecoglou brought along his attacking mindset that didn’t fit the players in Forest’s squad.
Dyche is more like Nuno in the way he sets up his teams, as shown in his long spell at Burnley from 2012-22 and again in his two years at Everton before he was fired in January.
He should bring more stability and organization back to Forest, especially at defending set pieces — a big weakness in the team under Postecoglou.
“A respected and experienced Premier League manager, Dyche brings the perfect blend of character, tactical acumen and proven achievement to guide the club through its next chapter,” Forest said in a statement.