The managerial roller-coaster for Nuno Espirito Santo at Nottingham Forest has come to an end with his sacking today, the fractious relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakas finally becoming too much, although The Telegraph says it was really the arrival of Edu Gaspar from Arsenal that was the primary catalyst.
His departure comes despite leading Forest to European football for the first time in 30 years on the back of a good season and a strong 7th-place finish in the Premier League last season.
The replacements under consideration supposedly include ex-Everton manager Marco Silva, who we are told would give up his current very successful spell as manager of Fulham to work under the irascible owner. Such a move seems highly unlikely.
Nuno Espirito Santo was in the hat as a potential replacement for Carlo Ancelotti back in September 2021, according to journalist Paul Brown:
“Nuno thought he had the job at Everton and then suddenly didn’t. I think one of the reasons for that is because Nuno wanted James (Rodriguez) to stay and would have made him more of a key part of his plan.”
David Moyes was under consideration at that time too but somehow Farhad Moshiri selected Rafa Benitez for what was to become one of the darkest and mist forgetable periods in the club’s recent history.