Nottingham Forest officially confirmed on Thursday that manager Vitor Pereira and his entire coaching staff have left the club. The Portuguese boss, who signed an 18-month deal back in February, was less than thrilled about how it went down — calling his departure a “complete surprise and without any warning.”
Pereira, 57, had a huge few months at the City Ground. He kept Forest in the Premier League. He also dragged them all the way to a Europa League semifinal. That’s not bad for a guy who walked in midseason and was expected to just steady the ship. Instead, he gave them a European run that nobody saw coming.
Forest’s official statement thanked Pereira and his staff for their “considerable efforts” and said they built “the foundations upon which we will continue to build.” The line about a “mutual break clause” in his contract is doing some heavy lifting, given Pereira’s quite different version of events.
“Nottingham Forest can confirm that Vitor Pereira has left his role as head coach following the club’s decision to exercise a mutual break clause in his contract,” the statement read. “His coaching staff – Filipe Almeida, Luis Miguel, Bruno Moura, Marco Knoop and Pedro Lopes – have also left the club.”
The club went on to thank them for their “hard work and commitment” and all that, but the real tension is in what Pereira said himself.
“Today marks the end of my journey as head coach of Nottingham Forest,” he said in his own statement. He said he wanted to thank everyone connected with the club, but then he got real: “Although this decision came as a complete surprise to me and without any warning, I fully respect the club’s right to make the decisions it believes are best for its future.”
He admitted he was disappointed and saddened. He said he truly believed in what they were building. He also sounded like a guy who got fired while still holding a decent hand.
Reports have already started circling that Oliver Glasner is the likely replacement. Glasner left Crystal Palace at the end of last season, so he’s available and apparently in the mix. Forest hasn’t confirmed anything on that front yet, but the rumor mill is pretty consistent.
So what now for Forest? They’ve got a manager who delivered survival and a European semifinal, and they let him walk. Or pushed him. Depends who you ask. Glasner knows the Premier League well and plays a high-pressing style that could fit the squad. But it’s a gamble, especially after a season where stability actually worked.
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