Ange Postecoglou could go down as the worst Premier League manager EVER after foolishly following up his Tottenham failure with disastrous Nottingham Forest spell

Postecoglou first arrived on British shores in 2021 when he was whisked in as the new manager of Celtic, who had failed in a long and public pursuit of Eddie Howe to replace Neil Lennon in the Parkhead dugout. This was his first job outside of Australia and Asia since 2008 when he briefly took charge of third-tier side Panachaiki in his birthplace of Greece. There was understandable scepticism when he was appointed Bhoys boss, but he quickly silenced his doubters with his persuasive charm and his team's entertaining football. It also helped that this led to Celtic emphatically winning back the Premiership title from Rangers.

After two years in Scotland, Postecoglou got a call from Tottenham, who were desperate to get the bad taste of the miserable Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho eras out of their mouth. Again, there were unbelievers to sway. His immediate task was to make the team play an expansive brand of football, with the hope this would lead to what Postecoglou himself would later describe as 'sustained success'. Spurs won eight and drew two of their first 10 games under the Aussie before they were thrashed by Chelsea, who were ironically managed by former favourite Mauricio Pochettino. From there on, the foundations of 'Ange-ball' became fragile and Postecoglou's side never quite hit those same heights from a domestic point of view, despite achieving an admirable fifth-place finish for 2023-24 when many tipped them to finish outside the European places. Postecoglou's gift of the gab won supporters over, as did the extraordinary, drug-like highs of his opening three months in the role.

Tottenham's 2024-25 season was unlike any other, be it by their own manic standards or anyone else's. They ended a 17-year wait to win a trophy with victory in the Europa League, yet simultaneously finished 17th in the Premier League. The club's board, led by the soon-to-depart Daniel Levy, released a lengthy statement to explain how they arrived at the decision to sack him soon after the campaign wrapped up.

"Following a review of performances and after significant reflection, the Club can announce that Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties," it began. The standout paragraph read: "The Board has unanimously concluded that it is in the best interests of the Club for a change to take place. Following a positive start in the 2023/24 Premier League (PL) season, we recorded 78 points from the last 66 PL games. This culminated in our worst-ever PL finish last season. At times there were extenuating circumstances - injuries and then a decision to prioritise our European campaign. Whilst winning the Europa League this season ranks as one of the Club's greatest moments, we cannot base our decision on emotions aligned to this triumph."

It was a unique situation that Spurs found themselves in, but one that was understood by most corners of the footballing world, even if it was raw to those most closely impacted. That Postecoglou goes down as a Tottenham legend and also the mastermind behind their worst-ever top flight season in terms of defeats (22) are not paradoxical thoughts.

Forest's summer was far from unassuming. After nearly throwing away European qualification altogether, they were very much up for UEFA demoting FA Cup winners Crystal Palace into the Conference League to bump themselves up into the Europa League, while Morgan Gibbs-White's transfer to Tottenham was blocked by owner Evangelos Marinakis (or 'Mr Marinakis', as the England midfielder called him several times in a video announcing a new contract).

That seemed to be the end of the Forest soap opera and they were expected to enjoy another fruitful season under Nuno Espirito Santo. Then, during what was meant to be an unassuming press conference before an on-pitch battle with Palace in mid-August, the Portuguese tactician threw his future into doubt. "I always had a very good relationship with the owner - last season we were very close and spoke on a daily basis. This season it is not so well (between us) but I always believe that dialogue is important because my concern is the squad and the season we have ahead of us. Our relationship has changed and we are not as close. I think everyone at the club should be together but this is not the reality," Nuno said, lasting only a couple of weeks more in the job before being sacked in one of the strangest sagas this league that sometimes borders on soap opera has ever seen.

Postecoglou has previously spoken of clubs, and even the Australia national team, turning to him because they and the fans long for change, that there is a want to completely reverse their fortunes. This was a different case. Nuno had unanimous and unwavering support among the Forest faithful and they were angry to see him go. If Postecoglou was appointed based on the job he did at Spurs and the hope he could win the Europa League for a second season running, then that would have made sense. Instead, his close ties to fellow Greek Marinakis felt like the top reason behind the change in the dugout, even more so after it was reported they wined and dined over the summer.

At an event in July honouring Postecoglou in Greece, Marinakis said: "What I want to say about Ange is that he has spoken about Greece many times, he is proud to be Greek, and in the great success he had with Tottenham by winning the Europa League, he spoke about Greece. (He is) a man who not only does not hide his origin but is also proud of it. What he achieved, he did with a team that has not won any titles, it has had a very difficult time in recent years. In this huge success that the whole world saw, he promoted Greece. We must thank him especially for this, and we wish him well, although we are sure that he will do well as he has the ability. Wherever he goes, the successes will come."

Overnight, Forest had gone from a team used to playing defensive, conservative football to a side who wanted to play at a hundred miles an hour. Now, they're feeling the aftereffects of whiplash.

The term 'baptism of fire' doesn't do justice for the start Postecoglou's made at Forest. 'Christening by explosion' might be more appropriate. A 3-0 hammering to former rivals Arsenal started his reign, after which he vowed his side would be the one he envisaged in their following game, a trip to Championship side Swansea in the Carabao Cup. Forest lost 3-2 after being 2-1 up heading into second-half stoppage time.

Credible draws at Burnley and Real Betis followed before they lapsed back into losing habits, falling to Sunderland, Midtjylland and Newcastle with a whimper. The most recent of those defeats, 2-0 up at St James' Park, was so comprehensive that host broadcaster Sky Sports didn't, or couldn't, show a single Forest chance in their highlights package.

Postecoglou is now the first permanent Forest boss to fail to win any of his first four league games since 1960, while his start in all competitions means he has the worst opening record at the club in over 100 years. The Australian himself is now 11 Premier League matches without a win, counting his time at Spurs, and his teams have taken only 15 points from their last 23 games. What hasn't helped optics is that Tottenham are currently third in the table under new boss Thomas Frank, while Nuno earned a priceless draw at Everton with West Ham last week. The gruff 60-year-old is both the odd one out and the common denominator.

The extra novelty behind Postecoglou's beginnings at Forest is he was unable to greet his new home fans until his fifth game in charge, managing twice away in the Premier League plus once in the Europa League and Carabao Cup apiece. By then, his stock was already trending downwards, but two limp performances at the City Ground cost him any last shred of goodwill coming into the job.

During the second of these defeats, a 3-2 loss to Danish minnows Midtjylland, Postecoglou was targeted by chants of 'you're getting sacked in the morning' from an angry crowd. The three goals Forest shipped were stupidly soft, conceding twice from opposition set pieces and once from their own. The worries people had over Postecoglou heading into this role were real.

In Postecoglou's first few months at Tottenham, the press hung on his every word. He's an extraordinary orator, hence why his teams have always bought into his methods, and you couldn't help but want to listen to him. That's easier when you're winning, not so much when in a rut. Down the stretch of 2024-25, Postecoglou's responses and messages when speaking to the media became grouchier and bitter. That's extended into his Forest reign without any sort of tangible result to fall back on, and already there is serious speculation of him being fired, with he himself confirming he will hold showdown talks with Marinakis.

Speaking on Sunday after the defeat at Newcastle, he reverted to the type of his defiant self. "I'm here in the Premier League at the age of 60, you reckon I lack self-belief or don’t like a fight? I've picked fights. I have. In the schoolyard, I've picked fights with people I knew would beat me up. That's the kind of person I am," he bellowed in his press conference.

"I totally understand it's part of the fanfare around the Premier League that there needs to be a manager under the spotlight. It's my turn at the moment. It's a fun game, isn't it? It's me this week. Who knows, maybe you're all right and I'm gone. Next week it will be someone else. I'm not a worrying kind of guy. I couldn't care less. If people somehow think I'm not enjoying what I'm doing at the moment, they've got no idea." Well, at least someone inside the club is enjoying the Forest experience, then.

Wherever Postecoglou goes, he will be followed by fans of his former clubs, such is his success and cult of personality. There will always be someone in his corner demanding he be given more time, that he is not the party most to blame for his shortcomings.

Notably coming to his defence on this occasion has been Wayne Rooney, who instead believes Marinakis, new sporting director Edu Gaspar and the Forest board should be receiving more flak for acting so recklessly with the dismissal of Nuno.

"It's crazy. All the rumours that you heard about him, that he could get sacked after six or seven games, it's absolutely crazy. And I like him, I think he's a good man," Rooney said. "He obviously struggled in the league with Tottenham last season, but then he went and won the Europa League. It was strange seeing Nuno get sacked at Forest, and then they brought Ange in. If he does get sacked, I think it's absolutely wrong.

"I've not heard anyone talking about the ownership and the decisions they're making. They're the ones making the decisions, so if they do sack him, someone has to be responsible for hiring him in the first place. The difficulty he's got is that the style Nuno played compared to what Ange wants to play is completely different. I watched them against Burnley, I thought Forest were very good. And against Real Betis in the Europa League, I thought they were very good in that game as well. He's been unlucky on a couple of occasions. The problem is, the Forest fans really liked Nuno, and it doesn't look like they're willing to give Ange the time.

"It's tough, but Ange Postecoglou is a good man. He's won trophies everywhere he's been, and I hope he gets the time. But from everything you hear, the Forest fans don't look like they're willing to give him that time."

We can speak all day about believing in theory and working hard in training to perfect a certain brand of football. The hard truth is we're well beyond rational discussion in those terms. That '15 points in his last 23 matches' stat from earlier does all the talking possible for a manager in charge of a Europa League team for a second straight season.

The anxieties over how Postecoglou's preferred style of play would transfer to the English game took a while to marinate because of how off-guard they caught opponents when he first got to Tottenham. Conversely, once one team figured out how to play against them, everyone did. Spurs dropped more points from winning positions during the 2024-25 Premier League season than any other side, and that's not a coincidence.

'Ange-ball' can be compared to nuclear energy. When it works, it's a marvel of humanity and what we as a species can accomplish with our resources, but when it fails, you get Chernobyl.

There was a running belief before Postecoglou's Forest had even played a game that they had a team suitable for his setup. Ola Aina, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Neco Williams are model inverted full-backs. Murillo is a fantastic ball-playing defender. Elliot Anderson, Douglas Luiz and Ibrahim Sangare can control midfield battles. Morgan Gibbs-White, Omari Hutchinson and James McAtee share many playmaker qualities as James Maddison, Postecoglou's previous creator-in-chief. There are several tricky wingers in the squad, not least former Spurs target Callum Hudson-Odoi. If Chris Wood's goals dried up, then summer signings Arnaud Kalimuendo and Igor Jesus could get a look in. On paper, that's all fine. In the real world, it isn't. Postecoglou's tactics have been figured out in England. Everyone and their dog knows how to play against his teams (with the exception of Ruben Amorim, maybe) and Forest are finding out about this the hard way having seemingly dismissed all the warning signs beforehand.

Nobody feared Spurs by the time they won the Europa League and even after it, which is exactly why they pivoted to Frank instead. They wanted to be an adult team again, not one who rehearsed the same patterns over and over just to find themselves undone on a counter or set piece because Postecoglou thought he was above working to prevent such goals. He himself claimed near the start of 2024-25 he should be judged by his league performance above all else, and finding a way to tank Tottenham to 17th is as unprecedented a managerial gambit as we have seen. The injuries and the focus on the European run cannot be the main reasons behind a team of such stature and riches finishing one place away from relegation.

This is no slight on Postecoglou or what he stands for. He's brought joy to hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of people all over the world. He's one of the most unique figures we have in the game. His ideals are what you want in a football manager. Clubs such as Ajax or Porto or others in that Celtic 'one-to-three team league' bracket would be lucky to have him, but he can no longer survive in a Premier League environment. Sooner or later, Forest and Marinakis will pull the trigger. There's every chance he's remembered in England more for his lows than his highs.