‘Lost’ Ange Postecoglou admits Nottingham Forest job was a ‘bad decision’
Ange Postecoglou has admitted it was a “bad decision” to join Nottingham Forest and suggested he did so because he was “lost” without a job.
The Australian’s tenure at the City Ground lasted just 39 days during which time he failed to win any of his eight games in charge and was sacked 19 minutes after the full-time whistle in his final match.
Reflecting on his stint, Postecoglou said on Stick to Football that it was a “bad decision” to join the club and one he made because he felt “lost” being out of work.
“There’s not much to talk about with the Forest thing because this programme will last longer than my time there,” he said.
“But that was all on me, right? I think you said ‘beware of what you wish for.’ That was a bad decision by me to go in there. I’ve got to take ownership. There’s no point blaming anyone else. I didn’t get time or anything — I should never have gone in there. It was too soon after Tottenham.
“I was taking over at a time when I was obviously going to do things differently. They were used to doing things a certain way, and I’ve got to cop that. That was my mistake. It’s no one else’s fault.
“Did I have anyone saying anything to me? Yeah, everyone around me. But it was the first time I wasn’t working in 20-odd years, and I was lost. In the off-season, I was lost.
“Usually you go away with your family, but there are transfers, there’s pre-season, so your mind’s on that. This time, I was just lost.”
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Dissecting the situation further, Postecoglou believes the club never really wanted to get rid of Nuno Espirito Santo but did so only because of a fallout with the owner.
“I stripped everything back because really, when you go into a club, most of the time that club wants change. The reality of it is, I think they were reluctant to get rid of Nuno.
“It was only because of, I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but there was no way they would have sacked Nuno after last year.
“So you’re not walking into an environment, a playing group, where they’re really looking for change. So from that point of view, I was thinking to myself ‘well, yeah, but with that group of players, I reckon I can turn them around pretty quickly.’ And we had a couple of games that could have gone our way.
“I’m the worst decision maker, sort of in terms of that time around for my career. But we had four away games, my first four were away. I think I had three at home, like we just never got any traction and it’s no wonder the supporters never took to me.”
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