Five months ago, there was togetherness and belief at Nottingham Forest.
A seventh-placed finish had secured a return to Europe, and they had a manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, who had given the team an identity. This season was meant to be an adventure. Yet from the end of May until the start of October, the picture could hardly have changed more.
Nuno is now West Ham manager, and his replacement, Ange Postecoglou, finds himself in an almost impossible situation just seven games into his tenure.
With no wins, the Australian is not popular with the fanbase and will be aware that, behind the scenes, Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is considering his options.
That in itself is nothing unusual. Though having options does not always lead to change, Marinakis likes to have a replacement in mind — if not ready to go — before any decision is made.
Marinakis would not have expected to replace Nuno within three games of the new Premier League season. He definitely would not have envisaged a world where another change might be a possibility, just a month after Postecoglou’s first game in charge.
But with the club having been in the calmest, most stable position in years, now they find themselves having to navigate stormy waters. And, in some sense, it is a storm of their own making.
The appointment of Edu as global head of football was meant to underline the mood of ambition. The arrival of a man who had built a strong reputation with his work in a similar role at Arsenal was intended to help raise the club’s profile.
Postecoglou has failed to win any of his first seven games in charge (Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Instead, Edu and Nuno did not see eye to eye and it proved to be the catalyst — or at least the starting point — for Nuno’s departure. Marinakis parted company with the former Tottenham and Wolves head coach after he twice publicly questioned the status of their own relationship. Forest went from calm to crisis.
It is hard not to feel a little sympathy for Postecoglou. Forest will have known what they were getting when they turned to him. His appointment did not just represent a change in the dugout, but a substantial change, full stop.
Postecoglou’s ethos was always going to be a world away from what it had been under Nuno. Forest went from a man who built his foundations on a bedrock of discipline and organisation, to one who favours a brand of attacking football that thrives on risk.
Forest’s players have been asked to adjust to an approach from the opposite end of the spectrum, all within a demanding run of seven games in 22 days — five of which were away fixtures. There have been positive signs: periods in games where Forest have played outstanding football. They could easily have won three, if not four, of those matches. But they didn’t.
And Postecoglou’s issue is that all of the questions that were asked of him during his Tottenham tenure have been levelled at him again. He is not being judged only on the back of seven games at Forest; he is also being judged on Tottenham’s 17th-place finish last season.
Postecoglou was appointed because he is a winner — a man who has lifted trophies in Australia, Japan, Scotland and, last season, when he won the Europa League with Tottenham. He has a belief that his way of doing things works. But how much more time will he get to prove that?
He has already endured chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” from Forest fans. What will the atmosphere be like at the City Ground on Saturday if Forest go behind to Chelsea?
Now, already, he has the shadow of his potential replacements hanging over him. And Forest’s hierarchy must find a way to calm the mood and restore stability.
Winning a game of football would help enormously. But what if Forest do beat Chelsea? Would Postecoglou find himself under pressure again if they fail to beat Porto in their next Europa League fixture? Or if they lose at Bournemouth after that?
Forest must decide whether to stick with a manager who thrives on chaos or to make another change. And that is a remarkable position for the club to have got itself into.
Marinakis does seek the counsel of those around him. He will be gauging the mood of supporters and that of his players. He will know that his own reputation is in danger of being eroded. Which may ultimately prove to be the most important factor, if things do not improve.
Forest have long been admirers of Marco Silva, the Fulham manager. But while he is in the final year of his contract, there would still be a significant payoff required to engineer his exit. That — combined with any potential payoff for Postecoglou, along with any payment to Nuno — would soon add up.
It is also why Sean Dyche — another man who has been on the Forest radar on numerous occasions previously — would tick a lot of boxes.
The former Burnley and Everton manager — who has been a familiar face in the posh seats at the City Ground in recent years and who has a home in Nottingham — would be equipped to provide stability and direction as well as anyone. He came through the youth ranks at Forest, albeit without ever making a first-team appearance.
Dyche has been out of work since leaving Everton in January (Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)
In theory, the return of his regular assistants — former Forest favourites Steve Stone and Ian Woan — may prove popular.
It would mean a third different playing style for the players to adapt to, in the space of a few months and a third different voice for them to become attuned to. And there would be some who might question Dyche’s suitability for the role. But the same was true of both Steve Cooper and Nuno, who both emphatically proved doubters wrong.
Forest have gone from a club that was hoping to build on their seventh-placed finish, to challenge for their first European trophy since 1980, to being one that many will now perceive to be gripped by crisis.
And, until they address that, the adventure is at risk of becoming a nightmare.
