Vital Forest News

Explained: Why the Nottingham Forest players turned on Martin O’Neill

|

Not long after Roy Keane resigned as Nottingham Forest’s assistant coach, Martin O’Neill was then sacked as manager after his relationship broke down with a number of players. The East Midlands club finished ninth in the Championship, having amassed less points-per-game (1.37) than under Aitor Karanka (1.44) during the first half of the season.

Taylor of Nottinghamshire Live suggested O’Neill’s disciplined approach divided the squad while Daniel Taylor of the Guardian reported that players were uninspired by his methods and confused by his tactics. The Reds manager fell out with some of his squad too.

After being an unused substitute against Ipswich Town in mid-March, Adlene Guedioura refused to warm down with the fitness staff and had a dressing room argument with O’Neill as a result. He wouldn’t start again for the remainder of the season.

Pele missed an appointment with the club doctor and found his loan spell cut short at the City Ground. One first-team player was dropped after missing the team coach while another criticised O’Neill on holiday and their comments ended up on social media.

O’Neill wasn’t going to be sacked until the squad revealed their unhappiness with his performance to the board. They gave a negative appraisal during the first week of pre-season which has led to Sabri Lamouch’s appointment.

Read Crippy Cooke’s previous article

Share this article

Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.