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NO WAY! ABSOLUTELY YES!

Quite possibly the most unpopular down-under figure to arrive in the Nottingham area since a notorious innkeeper from a long-running series appeared in a theatrical show in the early 2000s, Forest’s new boss’s tenure at the club’s home could scarcely have got off to a more inauspicious start. Even though the jeers and taunts that TV star the soap veteran was endured during a seasonal stage show were largely good-natured, the hostility of the abuse hurled at the Forest manager during the club’s European setback by Midtjylland on Thursday was so intense that it is difficult to imagine the coach who has been in charge for just six matches will keep his job to endure the Christmas jeers this holiday season. Multiple times the experienced coach’s shouts of “He’s behind you!” went disregarded by his hapless players, especially when the opposition scored their first two goals from atrociously defended dead-ball situations. A long way from the joyous atmosphere they’d anticipated, Nottingham Forest’s first European home game in nearly three decades ended in bitterness with the crowd telling the manager he’d be “fired by tomorrow”, before serenading his favored, newly sacked predecessor, Nuno Espírito Santo.

“I get the mood around the place isn’t going to be great, I grasp the public’s opinion, chiefly directed at me, but that doesn’t concern me, this is nothing new to me,” the coach retorted in reply, while directing the ground near him to the typical death-stare. “Football holds no surprises for me, it’s the way things are. That appears to be the trend. It’s beyond my influence. Followers are let down, they are allowed to have an opinion on it. I listened to what they said.” And while those followers are entitled to vent, it could be argued that they might be better advised selecting a more appropriate target for their ire. In the end, it was the club owner who fired a firm fan favourite to appoint the new boss, who was always going to face a tough task from day one. Watching from the directors’ box as he went through a range of surly, dark scowls not seen since that time he heard the North London club had initiated Morgan Gibbs-White’s buyout option, the wealthy owner has thus far mostly avoided any kind of harsh judgement from the crowd, a good number of whom remain sure the sun shines out of his generously upholstered nether regions.

As the clock ticked past noon on Friday, speculation of the manager being fired overnight proved to be unfounded and reports suggest his job remains secure until such time as … in reality, it changes. Although the Forest head coach can make a reasonable case that he has had very few sessions on the training pitch to implement the style and strategic detail that caused the London club dropping 22 of their 38 top-flight games last term, his team’s fixture list remains tough and continuous. With the Magpies, Chelsea, Porto and Bournemouth coming soon it is hard to predict from where a first Postecoglou win will come before what could surely be the mother of all El Sackicos against Manchester United.

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BEST REMARK

“I steer clear of heated debates, who singles out individuals, actually, I’ll refrain from naming names. However I think there was a bit of a lack of respect there, along with some incivility, without anyone offering a greeting” – the United player slams his club over the unfriendly setting at the Theatre of Dreams, where conviviality has seemingly headed south like the club’s results.

READER COMMENTS

Is it true the Forest manager has vowed supporters he guarantees victory in his second season?” – a reader.

It’s not my place to seek to emphasize the stereotype that Arsenal supporters are the sport’s most complaining followers, but a letter-writer (the prior edition’s comments) does make you ponder. Noting that rather than a couple of matches weekly, the North London side are having to play more than two fixtures each week (ooh an extra 30 minutes!) over a certain trio of weeks (for a team with two good options for every position to boot) is not the argument-settler he might think. On the contrary it’s just going to have the orchestra of the world’s smallest violins preparing to play once more, while the wider sport look on with exasperation” – a different supporter.

I’m unsure whether your latest letter-writers (on two or three games a week) are consciously, ironically recreating one of the memorable moments of web discussion (family-friendly), or unconsciously proving the philosopher’s saying about historical events repeating themselves as farce” – Nick Wiltsher.

For what it’s worth, the previous correspondent (yesterday’s letters), I’ve long felt that way [wanting rich Premier League sides to lose in Europe]. Ever since Forest fell out of European contention, continental matches for me has caused a state of seething impotent rage, broken up only sometimes by Steaua Bucharest and, if pressed, the Spanish club. I couldn’t care less for the Merseyside club’s successes from the eighties right up to the 2005 final. I am unmoved by {‘that