Former Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche has spoken about his City Ground tenure and owner Evangelos Marinakis
Sean Dyche was sacked as Nottingham Forest head coach.(Image: PA)
Sean Dyche has described his dismissal from Nottingham Forest as a “head-scratcher”.
The 54-year-old was axed as head coach last month after 114 days in charge of the Reds. A 0-0 draw with relegation rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers brought an end to his tenure, with owner Evangelos Marinakis said to have held a meeting with some senior players in the aftermath.
Speaking for the first time since his sacking, Dyche argued the “facts” suggested he should still be in post at the City Ground. But he hinted that “keyboard warriors” and unrest among the dressing room contributed to the decision to give him the boot.
When it was put to him that it was difficult to see why he was no longer still in charge at Forest, Dyche told The Football Boardroom podcast: “Well, I don’t, statistically and factually, no emotion to it, if you look at the stats and facts – even after the last game, against Wolves. Our current form at that time was ninth in the Premier League.
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“The stats and facts were there, clear as day. From my record, from when we got there to when we ended, we’d have been 12th in the Premier League.
“So on factual data and analysis, I can’t understand any of the decisions that were made. But football is changing, and we witnessed it.”
Throughout his time Trentside, Dyche insisted the Reds were always likely to find it tough to match last season’s seventh-placed finish. This time around, they are battling at the opposite end of the table, and he hinted dealing with the change in expectation levels was an issue.
“The bigger picture with football now is it’s like selling chocolate teapots,” Dyche said. “People come out with these stories about how ‘we’re this club’. You go: ‘No, you’re not. You’ve had one good season in 30 odd.’
“You’re trying to remind the fanbase – this is where the keyboard warriors get really powerful, by the way – of the truth of what it is rather than what you think it is. It’s very difficult now.”
Dyche made clear Forest fans were not a problem, but he claimed a small section of people “stir and sell anger” in modern football. He also hit back at reports suggesting the squad were being worked too hard under his stewardship – although he admitted it was something the players had mentioned to him.
“This is a lot that was coming out – that the players are tired because they (Dyche and his staff) are working them too hard,” he responded. “Since when has that become a currency that is almost like, oh, what are they doing working footballers too hard?
“If you’d have written that 10 years ago, people would have asked what they were talking about and thought they (the players) should be in there every minute of every day. I mean, I couldn’t believe it, honestly. He’s working the players too hard? I’m like, when did that become a bad thing?
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“I’m scratching my head. Me and my staff were going: ‘Well, we’ve got all the data, the stats and facts.’ Lowest physical performing team in the Premier League when we took over, so what do you want me to do then? Not get them fitter? I mean, it’s just madness, right?”
He continued: “This is where I was saying about the 10 per cent of football life now – keyboard warriors, media, whatever you want to call it – that for me is a coupon buster. Where the players were working too hard? I have never heard that as being a negative in my life. I cannot fathom that out where we’re asking the players to work hard for a football team and wear the badge with a bit of pride.”
“We all know, as managers, the walls talk,” Dyche added. “I know the runners and riders in all of my career. I certainly know the ones at Forest. But they’ll get weedled out, because life is like that, they will get found out.
“I need to make this clear – this is really important to me as a football person and as a person – Mr Marinakis was nothing but good to me and straight. His final decision is a strange one, but as a bloke, with me personally, I’ve got no gripes at all. Nor over his son, Miltos, or the powers that be, no gripes at all.”
Dyche, who said he has received “top level” offers since leaving the City Ground, would not be drawn on the suggestion Forest’s players were letting the club down. But he insisted he bears no ill will to the Reds, despite lasting only four months in the job.
“That’s for you to put together,” he said when quizzed on the dressing room shouldering some responsibility for Forest’s situation. “I’m not going to get involved in all of that.
“The reason I am not going to get involved too much is I still care about what that job is and I still care about that football club. I do not want anything but good on that, even though I’ve just been sacked.
“I don’t want anything but good for the ownership. I don’t want anything but good for the new manager or the players, let me make that clear.
“It is a bit of a head-scratcher that I’m sitting here talking about this. That’s the bit I will say, because the stats and facts are very clear.
“But what I’m trying to say is the pressure on football clubs now – going back to ownership models, finance – is enormous from, and believe it or not, people do listen to people sitting on a computer.”
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