Managerial Mayhem: When One Sacking Just Wasn’t Enough

Evangelos Marinakis is a big man and a big character, and the Nottingham Forest owner remains very popular with the club’s fans. Under his ownership, the two-time European champions have risen from the depths of the second tier to the Premier League. Indeed, 2025/26 is their fourth consecutive season in the top flight.

Moreover, they qualified for Europe last season. They are still in the Europa League and could, in theory at least, qualify for the Champions League next term. That, however, has not prevented their fiery owner from sacking three managers already this term!

Marinakis is clearly a controversial figure. His business dealings both within and beyond football have come under a lot of scrutiny. But even leaving aside the reported claims of match-fixing, drug-trafficking, political interference, and potentially inciting violence, his itchy trigger finger this term is quite the story.

This is the first time in the history of the English top flight that a club has had four permanent managers in the same campaign. Can this approach keep Forest in the Premier League? Might they move on to a fifth or even sixth boss before the campaign is done? Of course, we should remember that it is still only mid-February!

The Forest Four

Forest began the season with Nuno Espirito Santo at the helm. The Portuguese boss was appointed by Marinakis in December 2023. However, he did not make it two years at the City Ground. Although he led the club to seventh in 2024/25 and took them into Europe, he fell out with the owner, and that was that. Disputes with the new global head of football, Edu, about transfers were the catalyst. So, after just three games of the 2025/26 campaign, Nuno got his marching orders.

A day later, Ange Postecoglou was made the new boss. This represented a huge shift in football philosophy. The old manager favoured defensive solidity and counterattacking football. In contrast, Big Ange was all about playing on the front foot with a crazily high line and uber-aggressive press. What could possibly go wrong?

Postecoglou lasted just eight games and a little more than a month. Two draws and six defeats meant he departed with a win percentage of precisely zero. Additionally, the club were now in the relegation zone.

Manager number three arrived three days after Ange left. It was yet another about turn in football terms. From free-flowing, possession-based, attacking football, Marinakis now opted for a man whose teams rarely had more than 50% of the ball. Sean Dyche was appointed on the 21st of October 2025. The former centre-back favoured defensive solidity and long balls to a big target man.

On the plus side, Dyche was a former Forest youth player. Moreover, he brought two club legends with him in Steve Stone and Ian Woan, long-term assistants of his. Additionally, he was the perfect boss for a relegation battle. He kept Burnley up for many years. He also saved Everton when relegation looked almost certain.

In truth, Dyche did a very good job. He was in charge for 25 games, winning 10, drawing six. Had those all been league games, that would equate to around 55 points over the course of a season. However, after less than four months at the helm, Dyche became the third manager to be sacked by Marinakis in 2025/26.

The Reds had just drawn 0-0 with basement side Wolves. They had 35 shots, including 10 on target, but they could not score, and the fans were frustrated. They booed the side off, also unhappy with a 3-1 loss to another relegation rival, Leeds, five days earlier. Marinakis is a man who has previous for heeding the wrath of the fans, and so despite having turned things round and lifted the club outside the bottom three, Dyche was gone within a matter of hours.

Ding ding, round four. Again acting quickly, four days later, Forest announced that Vitor Pereira would take over as their fourth permanent manager of the season. The former Wolves boss has a contract until the end of the campaign, but can he see it out? He is vastly experienced – he has worked in Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Greece (at Olympiakos, also owned by Marinakis), Brazil, China and Germany.

However, like Ange, he is a manager who likes to use a high press. Does he have the players to do that at Forest, a side who have performed better with the more defensive coaches, Nuno and Dyche? Alternatively, can he adapt his tactics? Time will tell. However, we certainly can’t rule out the owner sacking Pereira before this crazy campaign is done.

A Record but Nothing New

As said, this is the first time a side in the top tier of English football has had four permanent managers. If we can ever call a Marinakis appointment permanent. But in many ways, it is nothing new.

In 2014, Watford appointed their fourth manager of the season on the 7th of October. Four in 37 days is a record that will take some beating. That was in the Championship, though. Additionally, one of the four had to stand down due to ill health.

Lots of clubs have made it to four managers over a single season when we include caretakers, interim bosses and temporary appointments. Leeds United and others have made it to five, and Blackburn Rovers even had six separate managerial spells in 2012/13! Gary Bowyer accounts for two of those, as a caretaker, with Eric Black also having a stint in the same role after Steve Kean resigned. Rovers sacked Henning Berg and Michael Appleton that term too, so perhaps six, or even seven managers, is a record Marinakis can target!

Like Watford and Leeds, Blackburn were in the Championship at the time. However, such shenanigans are hardly new to the PL either. The first club to use four managers was Derby in 2001/02. Official PL stats show that Jim Smith, Colin Todd, Billy McEwan and John Gregory all managed the Rams that season. They ended 19th and went down. In 2008/09, Newcastle also suffered relegation, with Kevin Keegan, Chris Hughton, Joe Kinnear and Alan Shearer all having spells in the dugout.

The same year, Portsmouth gave four bosses a go and survived, as did Chelsea in 2022/23. Leeds had Jesse Marsch, Michael Skubala, Javier Gracia and Sam Allardyce in the dugout that same campaign, but they went down. Gracia was also one of a quartet to take charge of Watford in 2019/20, and they too went down. The same fate befell West Brom in 2017/18 and Villa in 2015/16, but Swansea stayed up in 2016/17. So, Nottingham Forest in 2025/26 … will they stay up? Will they make it to five (or more!) managers? Time will tell!