Thanks Nuno, for the season of a lifetime

After a very public fallout, Nottingham Forest have parted ways with manager Nuno Espirito Santo. George Edwards laments the loss of the Portuguese who oversaw the club’s best season in 30 years

In unsurprising circumstances, Nuno Espírito Santo has left Nottingham Forest. The news hurts, and the season of a lifetime the Portuguese gave us will truly be cherished, but Forest must stick to his principles in finding his replacement.

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, then again, there are very few football clubs like Nottingham Forest.

As reports emerged late on Monday evening that the club had decided to part ways with Nuno Espirito Santo, there was little surprise from the footballing world – even less from those of a Nottingham Forest persuasion.

Once it surfaced that Nuno had issues with both owner Evangelos Marinakis and global head of football Edu, there could only really be one winner.

Nuno seemed to do everything to ignite the fire and little to extinguish it, in the public eye anyway. Leaving a club like Arsenal, Edu’s role at the ceiling of the club always looked like it would supersede that of any manager or player, as last night’s news would suggest.

The news hurts.

Nuno arrived when the club was badly bruised. No form, no direction and hurtling towards the Championship. Despite points deductions and various other legal and off-field issues, he immediately reignited the belief and togetherness that had been present for two years previously under Steve Cooper and made Forest recognisable once again.

The appointment was doubted – Nuno was doubted – but he, like Forest numerous times over recent years, was determined to prove his worth at the very top and that he had what it took to take the club forward.

But quite how far forward could never have been foreseen.

European football was always the long-term target following the club’s promotion, a reality only accomplished by the guidance of Forest’s cuddly and warming Portuguese leader. Putting the football aside, it was his mannerisms that made his tenure at the City Ground so successful, his personality becoming instilled in every aspect of Forest’s style and his uniting nature evident.

Various players have spoken of how the manager made each and every one of them feel free to express and allowed them to enjoy their football, elucidated by last season’s success. It was clear that everybody involved was performing at their peak fearlessly, totally buying into the path Nuno was leading them down.

And for all the man-management, he was a half-decent tactician too.

He only needed a preseason to transform the Premier League’s fifth-worst defence into its fifth best, a style of play with defensive solidity at its heart that was put into practice so effectively. He needed just days to get Chris Wood scoring, Morgan Gibbs-White performing and the wingers firing.

Without his tactical genius, that win at Anfield just wouldn’t have happened. That 7-0 thumping of Brighton wouldn’t have happened. Being second in the Premier League, the shoot-out wins, Wembley; that whole season of joy and disbelief just wouldn’t have happened.

Nuno gave us a year on top of the world. A year where Nottingham Forest felt truly unstoppable, unbeatable, and that no challenge was insurmountable, no dream was too big.

For many supporters, that spearheading season brought back fond memories of where Forest once belonged. For supporters of my generation, Nuno allowed us to glimpse the true magnitude of our club for the first time, creating an era in the club’s history that every fan – young or old – will cherish forever.

In Steve Cooper, Nuno had the biggest of shoes to fill – perhaps the most popular manager since Frank Clark, or even Brian Clough. Nuno certainly comes close to matching that, and this sombre goodbye feels like it is coming rather prematurely.

Europe was his achievement, so for him not to be standing there when Forest begin their Europa League campaign feels an alien concept.

However, the show must go on, and the club have made positive decisions when it matters over recent times. The past three transfer windows have been overriding successes, and the last two managerial appointments certainly have been.

Yet, you can’t help but doubt whatever path Forest take next. For something to be so badly wrong that the man who created the success has been pushed out rings serious alarm bells.

Forest cannot allow themselves to deviate too far away from the style and mentality that Nuno brought, because it clearly worked. Hence, appointing someone like Ange Postecoglu (as has been mentioned) would concern, given the unhinged way his Tottenham side played in which Nuno’s Forest just weren’t.

It shouldn’t have ended like this. Too juvenile, too public, too soon. But despite his deteriorating relationship with the club’s hierarchy, there will always be a place in every single Forest fan’s heart for Nuno Herlander Espirito Santo.

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