TRICKY TREES
When the rage-fuelled calamity-magnet that is Evangelos Marinakis stormed on to the pitch to publicly lambast Nuno Espírito Santo after Nottingham Forest’s draw with Leicester at the back end of last season, it set in motion a sequence of events that even those tasked with dreaming up the baroque, over-engineered death sequences in the Final Destination movie franchise would dismiss for being too outlandish and implausible. Not so much a butterfly flapping its wings in China, as a large, angry Greek man flapping his gums and arms at the City Ground, the Forest owner’s tirade marked the beginning of the end of his relationship with Nuno. Arguably the club’s most successful manager since Brian Clough, the Portuguese coach was kicked to the kerb following a series of press conferences in which he appeared to be encouraging his boss to give him the managerial equivalent of the Golden Boot. Nuno may as well have held up a sign which read: “Please fire me, I’d prefer to manage a club that isn’t a complete bin fire (or failing that, West Ham).”
Spotting an opportunity and grabbing it with all the relish of an enthusiastic customer who has just purchased one of the adult special interest toys through which he made his fortune, West Ham owner David Sullivan subsequently fired the under-performing Graham Potter and replaced him with Nuno, enabling the now unemployed Englishman to travel to his old domicile in Sweden. Potter’s thinking was almost certainly that the national football federation wouldn’t have far to travel when he issued his slightly desperate come-and-get-me plea once they’d sent Jon Dahl Tomasson his P45 – the Danish secret agent acquired one point from an available 12 in Sweden’s first four qualifying matches for the Geopolitics World Cup. While Potter’s new team need a miracle to make next summer’s jamboree in North America through traditional means, if he grabs the lifeline afforded them through the Nations League playoff spots and goes on to win the tournament, Sweden will have Marinakis’s apparent meltdown over the lack of care afforded to Taiwo Awoniyi following his painful collision with a goal-post against Leicester to thank for winning their first World Cup.
Meanwhile back at the madhouse that is the City Ground, Sean Dyche – a more ginger, slightly less effective but more-likely-to-be-seen-at-Glastonbury iteration of Nuno – has just been appointed as Forest’s latest new manager after the doomed 40-day reign of Ange Postecoglou went exactly as everyone except Marinakis had expected. According to the put-upon socials team tasked with translating and releasing the Greek magnate’s various chunters of consciousness, Dyche has been given the gig because he “brings the perfect blend of character [Woany? – Football Daily Ed], tactical acumen [Stoney? – Football Daily Ed?] and proven achievement [he lives 10 minutes from the training ground and was available? – Football Daily Ed] to guide the club through its next chapter”. As Football Daily suspected, the response to Dyche’s appointment among Forest fans has been mixed, to say the least, a state of affairs which already makes him infinitely more popular than his flamin’ predecessor, whose arrival Trent-side six weeks ago was greeted with unanimous disapproval.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This has been a thorough process to ensure we identified the right person to lead the club forward” – Rangers vice-chief suit Paraag Marathe puts a neat spin on the tumultuous recruitment process in which the beleaguered Glasgow club made botched attempts to hire Steven Gerrard, Danny Röhl, Kevin Muscat and then Röhl (again) as manager, with the German finally agreeing to an initial two-and-a-half-year deal at Ibrox.
Is Evangelos Marinakis in advanced talks with Sean Dyche’s successor?” – Gary McGregor.
In football is life in hyperspeed news: you win Spurs their first European trophy in more than 40 years, and yet you’ve been sacked from your second job in just four months since then. It’s a tough life, mate” – Noble Francis.
I refer to the quote attributed to Brendan Rodgers in yesterday Bits and Bobs (full email edition). There is no reason at all why you cannot drive a Honda Civic as you would a Ferrari … the shortcomings would be down to the relative performance of each automobile, not necessarily the driver!” – John Scent.
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RECOMMENDED LOOKING
David Squires looks back at the doomed and very short reign of Ange Postecoglou at the City Ground in his latest cartoon, featuring Statler and Waldorf and LadBaby.
