Nottingham Forest are close to appointing Sean Dyche as their third head coach of the season. The former Everton manager is poised to replace Ange Postecoglou, who was sacked after 40 days in charge.
Evangelos Marinakis wanted to reunite with Marco Silva, with whom he had worked at Olympiakos, but Silva’s reluctance to leave Fulham during the season and his £13m release clause made the move difficult. The former Manchester City head coach Roberto Mancini was also under consideration and was spoken to by Forest but Dyche became the focus.
Dyche has been out of work since being sacked by Everton in January, where he was in charge for two years. His availability and the absence of compensation make the completion of a deal smoother. Forest are keen for Dyche to be in the dugout for Thursday’s visit of Porto in the Europa League.
The 54-year-old was a youth player at Forest but never made a first-team appearance for the club. He has lived in the area for a long period and is a regular visitor to matches. The Forest legends Ian Woan and Steve Stone have been key members of Dyche’s backroom staff at Burnley and Everton, and it would be popular if they returned.
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There is an acceptance at Forest that they are in a relegation battle. They sit 18th with five points from eight games after losing 3-0 to Chelsea on Saturday in Postecoglou’s final game. Dyche has a reputation for getting teams out of trouble and will need to rebuild the defence that worked so well under Nuno Espírito Santo, who was sacked in September.
Elsewhere, Graham Potter has been appointed Sweden’s head coach on a short-term deal with the goal of qualifying for the World Cup. The 50-year-old, sacked by West Ham less than a month ago, will take charge of the final two qualifiers next month and his contract will be extended to cover the playoffs and next summer’s tournament should the team get there.
