According to The Sun, Nottingham Forest considered a move for Gerhard Struber before surprisingly handing Steve Cooper a new contract.
Nottingham Forest eyed Gerhard Struber
Well, the Telegraph believe Cooper was given a stay of execution at the City Ground as a result of his excellent work in getting Nottingham Forest to the Premier League, and that has now transpired into a contract extension.
However, that isn’t to say Evangelos Marinakis didn’t have a plan B up his sleeve.
That emergency option seemed to be Struber, who has made a name for himself in charge of the New York Red Bulls following an impressive stint at Barnsley – he saved the Tykes from dropping into League One.
The Sun add that Ralf Rangnick is also a huge fan of the 45-year-old.
Interestingly, the Austrian even wanted Struber to be his assistant at Manchester United after replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but he was turned down by his fellow countryman.
The New York Red Bulls boss has overseen 155 games in management throughout his career, recording 67 wins.
In that space of time, Struber has averaged 1.49 points per game, while watching his sides score 235 goals.
Nottingham Forest right to ignore Gerhard Struber
In our view, Nottingham Forest were right to ignore Struber and place their trust in Cooper.
There is no point replacing the Welshman – who worked miracles in getting Nottingham Forest to the Premier League last season – with a coach who is relatively untested at the highest level.
With all due respect, managing in Major League Soccer does not compare to the rigours of the Premier League, as we saw when Bob Bradley took over at Swansea in 2016 and struggled significantly.
If Cooper is to be sacked at any point, Marinakis needs to hire someone with Premier League experience, rather than taking a gamble on Struber – it would have been a very risky move, to say the least.
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