If rumours are to be believed, Philippe Montanier is already under pressure at Forest as fans once again direct their fury at owner Fawaz Al-Hasawi.
246 days. That is the average lifespan of a Nottingham Forest manager under Fawaz Al-Hasawi. The first, Sean O’Driscoll, last just 160, sacked when on the verge of a play-off push.
How Forest fans would yearn for those days now. Upon the completion of his protracted takeover in 2012, the Kuwaiti businessman promised to bring progression, a return to the Promised Land, and all the other standard, press conference clichés.
Four years on, Forest are no nearer a return to the Premier League. In fact, the stats suggest the opposite. After finishing 3rd and 6th in two of the three seasons before Al-Hasawi (below) rocked up at the City Ground, Forest have slowly declined upon season, from 8th to 11th to 14th. And, with a quarter of the current campaign consigned to the history books, the 1980 European Cup winners are distinctly closer to the bottom than the top, just three points above the drop zone.
Al-Hasawi businessman was afforded a warm reception upon his arrival, a stark contrast to the noises that will greet his departure once he finally finds an owner to take this battered Goliath off his hands.
The early optimism that greeted the surprise appointment of Phillipe Montanier, a man who led Real Sociedad into the Champions League and upset the order in Ligue 1 with Rennes, has slowly given way to yet more uncertainty. After all, this was a man who had never managed in England, let alone at a club where expectations are so high yet chances of success are so low.
The forced sale of posterboy Oliver Burke (below) to Red Bull Leipzig didn’t help, of course. Despite earning the club a cool £13 million, according to the BBC, barely a penny was reinvested, leaving Montanier to rely on the famously unreliable Nicklas Bendtner, picked up on a free as the rest of the footballing world stayed clear.
A dismal run of no wins in six has intensified rumours that Montanier could already become the fifth managerial casualty of the Al-Hasawi regime after just four months in charge, ever so slightly longer than Alex McLeish was afforded four years ago.
Al-Hasawi remains in close contact with Gianfranco Zola, according to the Nottingham Post, as he hopes to stumble blindly across a winning formula. The averages are on his side; if you roll a dice enough times, your number will come up eventually.
But that is, by its very definition, a gamble. Zola (below) hasn’t managed in England for three years and was most recently seen departing Al-Arabi after losing almost half of his 26 games in charge.
Yet again, Al-Hasawi appears to have no plan, long-term or short. And that hardly bodes well for a side that has got rather used to instability over the years.
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