Nottm Forest: What happened in tunnel before Postecoglou sacking as three ‘quiet’ stars are highlighted

TNT Sports presenter Jules Breach has revealed what happened in the tunnel in the moments before Nottingham Forest sacked Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian was sacked less than 21 minutes after the final whistle of Forest’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon.

Nottingham Forest sacked Nuno Espirito Santo in the September international break and replaced the Portuguese coach with Postecoglou, who won the Europa League at Tottenham last season.

However, in five Premier League matches, Postecoglou could only get one point from a possible 15, while his side were knocked out of the League Cup by Championship side Swansea and picked up just one point from two Europa League fixtures.

BBC Sport reported that Postecoglou was told that he was sacked before speaking to his Nottingham Forest players in his post-match team talk.

The BBC claim: ‘He [Evangelos Marinakis] did not deliver the news to Postecoglou, with a senior club official instead telling the 60-year-old – although that is not unusual.

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‘Postecoglou then said goodbye to his players, leaving them with an apology it did not work and that he was not able to deliver what he was brought in to do.’

TNT Sports presenter Breach gave details of what she saw happen in the tunnel in and around the time that Postecoglou was sacked by Nottingham Forest.

Breach said: “Despite the fact there was so much noise about this potentially happening before the match, I still think the timing and the way this has happened has surprised everyone, certainly down in the tunnel and obviously the dressing room as well.

“I was interviewing Morgan Gibbs-White about the match when the news dropped. That’s when we found out Ange Postecoglou had been sacked as Nottingham Forest manager.

“In that interview, Morgan Gibbs-White said that Ange Postecoglou addressed the players in the dressing room and just talked about how frustrating it was that he can see improvements, the team can see improvements and progression, but they just weren’t putting the ball in the back of the net and were conceding sloppy goals.”

Breach added: “From what we saw down in the tunnel, prior to that interview happening, Ange Postecoglou went into the home dressing room, spoke to the players and then actually went down to the other side of the tunnel area. We saw him come out of there and Edu was also in the corridor at that time.

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“Ange Postecoglou left with a bag on his back and went out towards the car park. At that point, it seemed the writing was on the wall but it wasn’t until a few minutes later when the news was confirmed. Ange Postecoglou’s backroom staff are still here, as far as we are aware, Ange Postecoglou has already left the stadium.”

Former Premier League striker Clinton Morrison picked out Chris Wood, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White for having “quiet” seasons.

Morrison said on Sky Sports: “Not winning in eight games is nowhere near good enough. They’ve got a big European game in midweek.

“There were some boos at the end but they weren’t chanting ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ like in previous games.

“The problem is they can’t keep clean sheets like they did last season. Chris Wood was on fire, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White played well but these players have been quiet this season

“They’re missing big chances. You do feel for managers in these situations.”

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