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IT CAN’T BE HIM! BUT IT IS!

Without a doubt the most unpopular Australian to show up in Nottinghamshire since a notorious innkeeper from a long-running series appeared in a local pantomime in the early 2000s, Ange Postecoglou’s tenure at the Nottingham stadium could scarcely have got off to a more inauspicious start. Even though the jeers and taunts that TV star the Neighbours star was faced during Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood were generally lighthearted, the hostility of the abuse hurled at the Forest manager during the team’s Europa League loss by the Danish side on the previous night was so severe that it is difficult to imagine the manager who has been in charge for only half a dozen games will keep his job to hear the seasonal boos this holiday season. On more than one occasion the experienced coach’s shouts of “Watch out behind!” went unheeded by his struggling players, not least when the visiting team scored their initial strikes from poorly handled set-pieces. Far from the celebratory mood they’d anticipated, Nottingham Forest’s first European home game in almost 30 seasons ended in acrimony with the crowd telling the manager he’d be “fired by tomorrow”, before praising his favored, just-removed former boss, the Portuguese tactician.

“I get the mood around the place isn’t going to be great, I know how fans feel, especially about me, but I never worry about that, it’s not unfamiliar territory for me,” the coach retorted in response, while directing the floor around his feet to the usual intense glare. “I’m never shocked in this sport, it’s the climate we’re in. This seems to be the direction. I have no power over it. Followers are let down, they can think what they like. I heard their opinion.” Even if those Forest fans are allowed to complain, it could be argued that they might be more sensible choosing a more appropriate target for their frustration. In the end, it was Evangelos Marinakis who fired a popular figure to hire Postecoglou, who was always going to face a tough task from day one. Watching from the directors’ box as he went through a repertoire of angry, grim faces last witnessed during that period he found out Spurs had initiated Morgan Gibbs-White’s buyout option, the shipping magnate has thus far mostly avoided any kind of harsh judgement from supporters, a good number of whom remain certain the he can do no wrong.

When Friday lunchtime arrived, rumours of the manager being fired overnight proved to be unfounded and sources indicate his job remains safe until such time as … in reality, it changes. While the Forest head coach can argue with some mitigation that he has had little or no time on the training pitch to introduce the approach and gameplan subtleties that led to the London club dropping more than half their league matches last season, his club’s upcoming matches remains forbidding and relentless. Up against the North-East side, Chelsea, the Portuguese giants and Bournemouth coming soon it is tough to imagine from where a initial success under the new boss will come before what could surely be the ultimate sack-race clash against Manchester United.

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Tune in with Scott Murray at 7.30 in the evening for Women’s Super League news on the stalemate between United and Chelsea.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I steer clear of heated debates, who names people, in fact, I’ll refrain from naming names. Yet I believe there was some disrespect, along with some incivility, and not a single hello or hi” – the Brazilian winger slams Manchester United over the cold atmosphere at Old Trafford, where conviviality has likely worsened like the side’s performance.

READER COMMENTS

Is it true Ange Postecoglou has promised supporters he never loses a game in his next campaign?” – a reader.

It’s not my place to seek to emphasize the trope that the Emirates faithful are the game’s biggest moaners, but Thabo Caves (the previous day’s mailbag) does make you wonder. Highlighting that rather than two games a week, the Gunners are having to play 2.33 games a week (ooh an extra 30 minutes!) over a particular 21-day span (for a roster with double coverage in all roles to as well) is not the argument-settler he might believe. Instead it’s just going to have the smallest fiddle players tuning up their instruments once more, while the wider sport look on with exasperation” – a different supporter.

I’m unsure whether your current contributors (on multiple matches weekly) are consciously, ironically recreating one of the memorable moments of internet discourse (SFW), or inadvertently demonstrating the philosopher’s saying about past occurrences returning as comedy” – a respondent.

If it’s any solace, the previous correspondent (the last mailbag), I’ve always been like that [wanting wealthy English teams to lose in Europe]. Since Forest lost the ability to negotiate Europe, continental matches for me has caused a state of helpless fury, broken up only sometimes by the Romanian side and, if pressed, the Spanish club. I couldn’t care less for Liverpool’s exploits from the eighties right up to Istanbul. I feel nothing for {‘that