Sean Dyche: Nottingham Forest appoint ex-Burnley and Everton manager as new boss

Nottingham Forest have appointed former Burnley and Everton boss Sean Dyche as their new manager.

The 54-year-old Englishman, who has signed a contract to run until the summer of 2027, becomes the Forest's third different boss this season.

Dyche succeeds Ange Postecoglou, who lasted just 39 days and was sacked 17 minutes after Saturday's 3-0 defeat by Chelsea in the Premier League.

Postecoglu did not win any of his eight games in charge - drawing two and losing six - after he was brought in to replace Nuno Espirito Santo, who was sacked just three matches into the campaign.

Forest are 18th in the league table after one win in eight games during what has been a difficult start to the season.

Dyche's first game will be a Europa League game at home to Porto on Thursday before Forest are at Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday.

The process to appoint a new manager was led by Forest's global head of football Edu Gaspar and global technical director George Syrianos.

Former Italy and Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini also held discussions with Forest about the post, while Fulham manager Marco Silva was also known to be admired by the club.

"A respected and experienced Premier League manager, Dyche brings the perfect blend of character, tactical acumen and proven achievement to guide the club through its next chapter," said a Forest statement.

"As a former Forest youth player who lives locally, Dyche also has a deep understanding of the values and pride of Forest and its supporters.

"His appointment represents the best opportunity for a successful and competitive season across both domestic and European competitions."

Dyche's coaching staff will include Ian Woan and Steven Stone, who both played for Nottingham Forest.

"It's a mess isn't it?" said BBC Sport football pundit Chris Sutton on the Monday Night Club before Dyche's appointment was confirmed.

"If Dyche gets over the line it is an admission that they got it wrong with Ange Postecoglou and are thinking about survival.

"Dyche has always managed clubs where it has been a struggle. He bucked the trend at Burnley and got the best out of the players he had and proved himself to be an extremely capable manager.

"At Everton he took over a team in trouble and stabilised the club. He had points deductions to contend with.

"Forest want to stay in the league so it seems a sensible appointment. They won't go down, they have too many good players."

Unlike Postecoglou's appointment, Dyche's arrival at Nottingham Forest makes sense because his style of play has historically been more tactically in tune with the brand of football Nuno employed to bring European football back to the City Ground.

With no pre-season for Postecoglou to impose his unique footballing ideologies, and with a slew of games coming thick and fast at the start of his tenure, the Australian struggled to stamp his authority on a squad so used to playing a certain way.

The appointment of another pragmatic coach, similar to Nuno, should on paper steady the ship and suit Forest's players, who were defensively sound and proved to be devastating on the counter-attack in 2024-25.

As the graphic below shows, both Nuno and Dyche teams are very happy to cede possession and allow the opposition the ball, before attacking at speed when they get it back. All of which contrasts hugely with how Postecoglou got his players to operate at Tottenham.

PPDA is passes allowed per defensive action. It measures how often teams wait until interrupting a spell of opposition possession - whether that's winning the ball back or getting a foot in to concede a throw-in or corner. Teams aggressively trying to win the ball back will have a lower figure - teams prepared to soak up pressure will have a higher figure.

Direct speed is how quickly the ball moves towards the opponents' goal during a sequence of possession, measured in metres per second.

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