New Nottingham Forest head coach Ange Postecoglou has faced the media for the first time at the City Ground, where he has reflected on his predecessors.
After Nuno Espírito Santo departed, Forest appointed Postecoglou into the role as head coach on an 18-month contract.
Since then, Postecoglou has taken his first Forest training session as the Reds squad looks set to change tactics to be more on the front foot, an alteration from Nuno’s counterattacking style.
However, the Australian is not here to discredit either Nuno or even Steve Cooper, giving credit to the two former Reds bosses in his first press conference despite the differing styles.
Ange Postecoglou discusses Steve Cooper and Nuno’s legacy
Postecoglou arrives in a slightly unique situation at the City Ground, with both of his predecessors being well-liked within the fanbase after their departures.
He’s not in the business of discrediting Cooper and Espírito Santo, though, taking time in his first press conference to discuss the former managers.
Postecoglou said: “It’s the nature of football. You don’t really know what circumstances you’ll take over. Until Steve Cooper took over the club, they weren’t looking as though they were going to be in the Premier League. They’ve had two excellent managers who have done fantastic work.
“If you asked me at the start of the year whether Forest would be a possibility, I would have said no way because of the job Nuno had done.”
Clearly, Espírito Santo has left Postecoglou in a brilliant position with Europa League qualification, a task that the new head coach is excited to get stuck into.
Ange Postecoglou’s message to the Nottingham Forest fans
Forest fans were initially unsure about Postecoglou given how his time in the Premier League with Tottenham ended, but his opening words to the press will have inevitably warmed the Reds’ support to their new head coach.
He’ll head into Saturday’s clash with Arsenal knowing it’ll be a tough fixture, but he continued in his press conference to provide a message of positivity for the supporters.
Postecoglou said: “Hopefully they’ll get behind the team and be excited about the possibilities about what we can achieve. The club is back in Europe and that is really an incentive to create something special.”
The Reds’ next four games are away from home, so Postecoglou will be hoping to have built this positivity up before his first match at the City Ground.
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