And we all thought October was the silly season! The news
that Nottingham Forest manager, Sean O’Driscoll, has been sacked just hours
after his side engineered an emphatic 4-2 victory over Leeds United on Boxing
Day staggered many English football fans, with the finger clearly pointed at
chairman, Fawaz Al Hasawi.
Forest’s Christmas could not have gone better after the team
rebounded from a 2-0 defeat to Watford at the weekend to defy the odds on Betfair
and stun Leeds inside the City Ground – Billy Sharp’s brace firing the home
side in front early in the second half.
The stadium was rocking to the sound of victory and festive
spirit, yet one man was clearly not in the mood to join in.
“It saddens me but we have parted company with Sean
O'Driscoll. A tough decision but we are determined to move our great club
forward,” Al Hasawi revealed on his Twitter profile just hours after the
full-time whistle.
“[M]ade contact with PL manager tonight. Meeting
Thursday,” he concluded, three hours later. Yet while some Forest fans will be
eagerly anticipating the arrival of a Premier League manager, the vast majority
will still be astounded O’Driscoll has been sacked on Boxing Day.
The surprise isn’t that he was sacked, for Forest have
not met expectations this season and have won just two in their past six games,
but that it comes right in the middle of the busiest fixture pile-up of the
season.
Forest now face high-flying Crystal Palace and a
tricky visit to Blackburn within a week and the confidence this squad could
have taken from that 4-2 thumping of Leeds would have seen them good into the New
Year.
However, as chairman Al Hasawi can do what he
likes, and, if he feels he can bring in an experienced manager to spend his
resources in January, then who can argue with that? Di Matteo is currently the
favourite for the post, according to Betfair.
Sadly, the whole thing still leaves a bitter taste in the
mouth during this otherwise very merry Christmas.
I like O'Driscoll. He is honest and pragmatic. He.also likes his twams to play football. Unfortunately, he has not found a settled side and still doesn't know his best.formation. He.has underachieved for the investment. If you are going to change your manager to give yourself a, chance of promtion doing it before the Window opens is a good time to do it. Yesterday's result is irrelevant to the.long term strategy.
ReplyDeleteAgree only if there is a replacement in the pipeline. If not then a huge mistake with important games managerless.
ReplyDeleteO Driscoll is a good manager, but blessed with an excellent squad at Forest he has continually swapped about with the side indicating he doesn't know what his best team is. Well the Boxing Day team didn't look half bad once Leeds woke them up. Best wishes to him he seems to be a good guy. Given the time he would have done well at forest...As for the new manager there are plenty of Premier League Journeyman managers who go from club to club do nothing and take the pay offs...Lets hope Forest do better than that..The club deserves more. Dave - Leeds Fan
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