3rd manager in 2025
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Nottingham Forest has officially announced the hiring of Sean Dyche as their new manager on Tuesday. The club stated that the 54-year-old coach has signed a contract at the City Ground that extends until 2027 and will take charge in time for their crucial Europa League match against Porto on Thursday. Although Roberto Mancini and Marco Silva were also considered for the role, Dyche is now tasked with revitalizing Forest’s season after securing just one win in their opening 11 games.
In a dramatic turn of events, Dyche will become the fourth manager for the Reds since their promotion to the Premier League in 2022 and the third managerial change in 2025. The decision to part ways with Nuno Espírito Santo, who led the team to a seventh-place finish last season, surprised many, especially when he was replaced by former Celtic and Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou. Unfortunately, Postecoglou’s stint was short-lived, lasting only 39 days due to an unsuccessful eight-game stretch that yielded just one point. Dyche has been brought in with the hope of salvaging Forest’s faltering campaign, but the question remains: is he the right choice for the job?
Sean Dyche’s Record in the Premier League
Dyche’s transition to Forest comes just nine months after his departure from Everton, and he will need to act quickly to win over the club’s supporters. Assessing his previous performances in the Premier League, however, there is limited evidence that he can replicate the success Espírito Santo had last season.
Reviewing Dyche’s decade-long tenure in the Premier League at both Burnley and Everton reveals some successes, notably achieving averages of 1.42 points per game during the 2017/18 and 2019/20 seasons, finishing seventh and tenth respectively. However, across more than 330 Premier League matches, his overall average is just 1.11 points per game, translating to about 42 points over a full season.
This performance level is unlikely to win over Forest fans. While this would be an improvement over Forest’s points tally in their first two seasons post-promotion, it falls significantly short of the 65 points collected by Espírito Santo last season, where he averaged 1.64 points per game—15% higher than Dyche’s best record. Dyche might argue that he has never managed a squad as talented as the one Forest had last season.
Ultimately, this season will be a true test for Dyche. Whether he can meet the high ambitions of Forest and their dedicated owner, Evangelos Marinakis, remains uncertain. However, there’s no doubt that if he can revitalize the club and restore it to the level it reached under Espírito Santo at the end of last season, it would demand a level of success in the Premier League that Dyche has yet to achieve.
