With Vitor Pereira set to take charge of Nottingham Forest away at Fenerbahçe in the Europa League, he becomes the 10th appointment of the Evangelos Marinakis era. George Edwards ranks the managers in order
Since Nottingham Forest’s promotion to the Premier League. Evangelos Marinakis has become one of the most talked about and recognised owners in English football.
During his tenure, only one manager has lasted more than two years, with Sean Dyche last week becoming Marinakis’s ninth casualty in the dugout since he took over in 2017. Yet, despite this, Forest have been promoted, staved off relegation and returned to Europe; undoubted success coming despite the absence of stability.
Marinakis’s eccentric and unpredictable nature is what makes him stand out, and his demeanour replicates that of a fan; it’s hard to think of an owner as involved with the players, the football club and the city as Marinakis on Trentside.
The Greek has shown a more measured approach compared to at his other club, Olympiacos, where 17 managers have been and gone since 2010, but here’s a ranking of all nine Marinakis’s hires and fires at Forest, with new appointment Vitor Pereira under no danger of making this list, for now at least…
9. Ange Postecoglou
September-October 2025
The experiment that failed. The new era that never reached dawn. The Premier League’s second-shortest managerial stint.
Ange Postecoglou’s 39 days in Nottingham were rooted in arrogance and ineptitude, failing to win any of his eight games at the helm, scoring just once in five Premier League games and crashing out of the Carabao Cup at the hands of Championship then-strugglers Swansea City.
Angry cries of “sacked in the morning” from all four corners of The City Ground greeted the Australian as his side lost 3-2 to FC Midtjylland in his sixth game, the writing on the wall by that point.
Postecoglou was fired just over two weeks later, 18 minutes after the full-time whistle blew after a 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea, Marinakis departing his seat well before the end to swiftly remove Postecoglou from his post.
The sheer volume of distaste towards Postecoglou from the stands was the strongest since the days Joe Kinnear and Gary Megson steered the club down to the third division for the first time since the 1960s.
In reality, Postecoglou didn’t have the time to fully implement his philosophy, with key absentees and dubious refereeing decisions contributing to his downfall. But his unwillingness to adapt his style and the constant references to his past successes forced Marinakis to pull the trigger, with his side languishing in the Premier League’s bottom three and the distaste in the stands becoming untenable.
8. Chris Hughton
October 2020-September 2021
None of Nottingham Forest’s recent successes may have happened without the distinct failure of Chris Hughton.
Appointing a manager with two promotions from the Championship and experience in the Premier League presented one of the more sensible and astute appointments from the Reds’ aberrant owner, Hughton extinguishing the threatening flames of relegation after the season began with zero points from four games.
Forest survived the drop with seeming ease in a season completely behind closed doors, a 17th-placed finish something Marinakis, despite his ambition, would have taken given the turgid circumstances Hughton arrived at.
But as the supporters were welcomed back for the new season pretty much everything went south once again; one point from seven in the Championship seeing Forest rooted to the bottom of the table, Hughton looking more bewildered and helpless with every game lost.
It felt like the end on a sombre Tuesday evening when the Reds lost 2-0 at home to Middlesbrough; Hughton was sacked a day later signifying the end – to date – of his management in English football.
7. Martin O’Neill
January 2019-June 2019
Since his departure, Martin O’Neill has been outspoken about his feeling of injustice towards the fact that his premiership — at the club he won the European Cup with twice as a player — only lasted half a year.
However, based on how it went, O’Neill has little to complain about.
Forest were a place outside the play-off places when the Northern Irishman came in, O’Neill assisted by Roy Keane for his 164-day tenure. Keane’s demeanour and presence on the sidelines is perhaps the most notable aspect of O’Neill’s reign, the pair abandoning the fluid play of Aitor Karanka in favour of a more traditional and direct approach.
O’Neill oversaw an eminent victory over local rivals Derby County, but a poor run of performances and results saw Forest falter in a play-off race they seemed set to go all the way in. Forest finished eight points behind sixth-placed Derby by the end, even after winning their last three games of the campaign.
Marinakis opted not to give O’Neill the tools and time to build on that, given his marching orders just days before the squad returned for preseason.
6. Mark Warburton
March 2017-December 2017
Without the ex-Brentford and Rangers boss, Evangelos Marinakis may well not have pitched up in Nottingham.
Warburton arrived with Forest in the pit of a relegation battle, two points above Blackburn Rovers in 22nd, following the dismissal of wild Frenchman Philippe Montanier and caretaker-manager Gary Brazil’s unsuccessful stint.
Forest had nine games to save themselves, amassing just eight points from a potential 24 leaving them level with Rovers on the last day, above the dotted line by just two goals.
A nervy day at the City Ground ended in celebration and overwhelming relief, as cult hero Britt Assombalonga (twice) and club captain Chris Cohen both netted in a poignant 3-0 victory over Ipswich Town, keeping Forest up by the barest of margins, with Blackburn also winning on final day.
Marinakis arrived just two weeks later, with the Premier League and Europe his overarching ambitions, a big ask from a squad and a club still reeling from near fatality.
When it worked under Warburton, Forest looked trailblazing but they failed to build on winning five from six at the start of the season; the Englishman’s excuses, inconsistency and anonymous football seeing him win one of his final eight games at the helm, becoming the first casualty of the Marinakis era on New Year’s Eve.
5. Sean Dyche
October 2025-February 2026
There was a growing question as to whether Ange Postecoglou was actually that bad towards the end of Dyche’s time in charge; that in itself must prove that the 54-year-old wasn’t doing a great deal right.
A 40%-win rate should put him towards the top of this list, but Forest’s vast inconsistency in performance and a growing feeling of unease in the dressing room meant they were sleepwalking towards relegation, and something had to give.
Dyche lifted Forest out of the drop zone and picked up three wins in the Europa League, masterminding a historic 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield and ticking their Premier League points tally along with reasonable frequency.
However, Dyche was consistently outcoached by the likes of David Moyes, Marco Silva and Fabien Hurzeler, failing to motivate performance in games that mattered most.
Once Forest stopped winning in the league Dyche’s time always looked numbered, two points against fellow relegation candidates Crystal Palace, Leeds and Wolves spelling the end for Dyche, Ian Woan and Steve Stone; the latter two’s time on the field in the 1990s certainly more memorable than their short stints in the dugout.
4. Aitor Karanka
January 2018-January 2019
The appointment of Aitor Karanka was Marinakis’s first statement of intent as Nottingham Forest owner.
Karanka arrived with the Reds sitting 14th in the Championship, following in the footsteps of Warburton’s predictable and uninspiring style, three years after he achieving promotion to the Premier League with Middlesbrough.
The Spaniard quickly endeared himself as Forest manager despite winning just one of his first eight games, bringing back the fast-paced counterattacking style that suits the football club so well.
Despite the petering out of the 2017/18 season, as the Reds finished 17th, Karanka’s experience and recent success posed optimism going into the next campaign, with Marinakis breaking the bank to support Forest’s promotion push, including Championship stalwart Lewis Grabban and then-record signing Joao Carvalho.
Forest were in and out of the play-offs all term after beginning the season five games unbeaten, most memorably drawing 5-5 in a frantic game at Villa Park. Unrest in the boardroom grew towards the end of 2018, Forest winning just one game in December amidst speculation of a fallout between Karanka and chief executive Ioannis Vrentzos.
In his final home game, Forest came from behind to thrash Leeds United 4-2, the City Ground vocally surmising to Karanka that “we want you to stay.” However, that plea would be in vain, Karanka resigning as head coach just 10 days later, the first Forest manager in five years to make promotion seem a realistic prospect.
3. Sabri Lamouchi
June 2019-October 2020
Appointed just 18 minutes after the departure of O’Neill was confirmed, Lamouchi brought a welcome breath of fresh air to the football club, foreign thoughts and new ideas a welcome change.
Lamouchi won manager of the month in September as Forest followed up defeat on opening night by going nine unbeaten in all competitions, climbing to the top of the table after coming from behind to win 3-2 at Stoke City.
This was what Marinakis craved: a genuine fight for automatic promotion. However, nothing ever seems to be plain sailing at Forest, the Reds dropping out of the top two by Christmas but still in position to threaten, a play-off place seemingly nailed on.
Covid then came along, blowing the wind firmly out of Forest’s sails once football returned, failing to win their last six and falling out of the play-off positions in gut-wrenching fashion on the final day. Swansea City won and overturned a six-goal swing to snatch sixth place from the Reds, who were smashed 4-1 by Stoke on home soil.
From there Lamouchi never recovered, sacked four games into the 2020/21 season after losing them all, despite signing a new contract just three months earlier.
2. Nuno Espirito Santo
December 2023-September 2025
Very few football clubs would sack their manager on the back of a season where they achieved their highest league finish in nearly 30 years. But very few football clubs are Nottingham Forest.
Forest were hurtling towards relegation when Nuno arrived, without a win in six and with just one in their last 13, with various changes in personnel and formation unable to turn around the outgoing Steve Cooper’s fortunes.
Early wins against Newcastle and Manchester United didn’t materialise into a stretch of good form – the remainder of the season was one big slog – but were a preview of just how good Forest would become under the Portuguese.
His side showed grit as they dug their nails in to pick up enough points to avoid the drop — 32 the lowest of any Premier League team not to be relegated. Then, after a preseason and clever recruitment, they showed just about everything positive a football team could display, fearlessly ascending up and up the table on a tidal wave of momentum and fluid understanding.
Nuno masterminded memorable wins at Anfield and Old Trafford, and a run of six consecutive wins around the festive period saw them occupy second spot once the new year came around, just three points behind eventual champions Liverpool when Chris Wood gave Forest the lead against Arne Slot’s side as they eventually drew 1-1 in January 2025.
Every player bought into the path Nuno was leading them down, making it all the more painful when the Champions League dream they looked nailed on for crumbled as the season closed, dropping to seventh by the end.
What felt like just the start under Nuno turned out to be the closing ceremony, sacked three games into this season following multiple public statements going against Marinakis, the club spurning the stability Nuno brought in true Nottingham Forest style.
1. Steve Cooper
September 2021-December 2023
Since Brian Clough, it’s hard to think of a Nottingham Forest manager heralded and adored in the same way Steve Cooper was and is – the man who resurrected the football club and made a generation believe in it for the first time.
When Cooper arrived, it couldn’t really get worse, the Welshman following that abject Chris Hughton era with Forest seriously flirting with relegation. But nobody foresaw just how much better Forest’s season and immediate future would swiftly become.
He wasn’t the fan’s number one choice, with both Eddie Howe and Chris Wilder available at the time, but it didn’t take long for the fact that something special was on the horizon to shine through.
A squad shot of confidence and made up of five loanees suddenly became a family, confidence igniting from week to week, Forest picking up late winners, stringing together unbeaten runs and dumping Premier League Arsenal and Leicester City out of the FA Cup.
Remarkably, given where Forest started, Cooper’s Reds had the chance to achieve automatic promotion on the penultimate game of the season, level on points with Bournemouth as they went to the south coast, about the only time they fell short under the Welshman that term, settling for a spot in the play-offs as they lost 1-0.
Cooper achieved the day Marinakis was dreaming of in May 2022, clinching promotion at Wembley and returning the Reds to the Premier League after 23 years in the wilderness.
The strength of the bond Cooper created between himself, the players and the supporters is what kept Forest up in the first year back in the top flight, the fans’ backing of their manager through thick and thin seeing Marinakis keep him in his post on two occasions when it looked like change was destined.
It was a sad day when Cooper’s time was up, a decision supporters had become acclimatised to given Forest’s struggles but that hit where it hurt. From the famous fist bumps to the warming grin and of course the unforgettable memories, Steve Cooper will always be remembered as the man who put Nottingham Forest back where they belong.
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