Roy Keane brands Nottingham Forest players 'idiots' and blames them for getting Ange Postecoglou sacked as Gary Neville slams Evangelos Marinakis

Forest have gone through three permanent managers in a turbulent season, despite qualifying for European football. Nuno Espirito Santo began the campaign after a successful seventh-place finish last season, but was sacked in September after just three matches due to a public breakdown with the owner Angelos Marinakis. His successor, Ange Postecoglou, was appointed shortly after, but lasted only 39 days, overseeing eight winless games before his dismissal last weekend, and the club's third and current manager, Sean Dyche, was appointed earlier this week. A former Forest youth player, Dyche is tasked with stabilising a squad that has struggled and returning to the pragmatic, defensive solidity that brought success under Nuno. His immediate challenge is navigating a demanding schedule of domestic and Europa League matches. And one former Forest star has turned on the players over their role in the Aussie boss’ early exit. 

Keane said, "You look at the Forest players and the chances they had. What chance has he (Postecoglou) got? Did they really want to score? Did they want to keep them in the job? I'm on about good players not even hitting the target. Then the manager loses his job, you look at these Forest players, and they're like, ‘oh well, another manager has gone, a new one comes in, you know’. Idiots, honestly."

Gary Neville said: "I've sacked four managers face-to-face in my time at Salford. Honestly, as a football club owner, it's one of the worst things you can do. You always think about the right time - obviously for the club, ultimately you're doing it because the club isn't happy and as owners you're not happy - but you're always thinking about how you deliver that news and where you deliver that news from the point of view of the manager. 

He added: "And also giving him integrity. When you get sacked as a manager, you feel paranoid, you feel like the whole world is looking at you, you feel awful, you feel like you've let everyone down. So you try and do it in as classy a way as possible, you try and do it a bit of time away from the game, you try and make sure he has the ability to speak to his staff and his players and has the time to build a statement. To do it 15, 20 minutes after a game, Jill (Scott) put it beautifully, to leave the stadium, and then do it 20 minutes after the match…"

The new Forest boss’ problems include a defensively disorganised team, a squad with low confidence after a difficult start to the season, and a chaotic club culture under a trigger-happy owner. He must also unify a fractured fanbase after the departure of the popular Nuno Espírito Santo. To overcome these issues, Dyche must restore basics, a strategy the club's ambitious owner is aware of but may not tolerate long-term as he chases a dynamic playing style. 

And he made a flying start with a confident 2-0 victory over Porto in the Europa League, next up is an away trip to Bournemouth and there’s the eye-catching trip to Manchester United in November on the horizon.