'Awful' - Stan Collymore slams Nottingham Forest timing of Nuno Espirito Santo sack decision
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(Credit: Hasan Karim - Breaking Media, Imago)
Oliver Walton
Tue 9 September 2025 13:06, UK
Stan Collymore has blasted Nottingham Forest for sacking Nuno Espirito Santo as they welcome Ange Postecoglou as their new manager.
Nuno had done a stellar job in charge of Nottingham Forest, taking the club from Premier League relegation candidates to qualifying for European competitions.
Despite their recent success, he fuelled rumours of a potential exit last month by saying that his relationship with Forest co-owner Evangelos Marinakis was “not the same” as before, and admitting that “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” in response to reports over his position as boss being uncertain.
Football Insider revealed on Monday (8 September) morning that Forest were set to sack Nuno if his crisis talks with Marinakis broke down, and so it happened that he was officially relieved of his duties on Monday evening as Forest cited “recent circumstances” that had led to the decision being taken.
Ange Postecoglou is now set to take over as Forest boss imminently, but former City Ground star Stan Collymore is not happy at the state of affairs around Nuno’s exit and the dark cloud under which he has left.
Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media
There were rumblings of discontent behind the scenes at the City Ground all summer, and things seemingly came to a head between the Portuguese boss and Edu Gaspar as Forest failed to sign Nuno’s top target Adama Traore late on in the window.
The club insisted in their statement that the 51-year-old will be “remembered fondly” for his success in charge and will “always hold a special place” in their journey after such an impressive 2024/25 campaign.
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His sacking has come as a shock to many, despite many rumours around a potential exit and a rift with higher-ups in the background, and Forest hero Collymore voiced his discontent at the timing of and reasoning behind the decision in a post to his X account on Tuesday.
He said: “Nuno 9/10 for Forest, made good players superb, saw a gap in Prem style and exploited it and some.
Along with being an honest, communicative and much needed leadership figure at Forest, so on a punditry level I think the timing and reasoning is awful and I’ll stick to that.
“Clubs who evolve, succeed, clubs at the whim of anyone, in the world’s hardest league, can blow up as quickly as they were flying like a comet.”
Football Insider verdict
Forest’s progression under Nuno was second-to-none, with the Portuguese boss taking his side from battling against the drop to nearly making the Champions League last season.
Many supporters of the City Ground outfit would have not even dared dream of that kind of upturn in fortunes in such a short space of time, yet the man that oversaw it has been relieved of his duties just three games into the new season.
Games managedWinsDrawsLossesPoints-per-game713015261.5Nuno’s managerial stats at Forest
There has always been a sense, however, that he was trying to upset the apple cart in order to get more signings over the line between now and the deadline, and disagreements between him, Marinakis and Edu have ultimately been the catalyst for his exit.
Collymore also stated in his X post that he can foresee Nuno being approached by one of Wolves, Sunderland, Leeds or West Ham around the winter period if they are in need of a change in the dugout, and it is fair to say that, based off his time at Forest, he should be back in a job in no time.