Sacking a manager who's just kept you in the Premier League, without so much as a phone call beforehand — that's a bold move from Nottingham Forest, and not in a good way.
Vitor Pereira has confirmed he's leaving the City Ground, and his own words tell you everything you need to know about how this went down. He said it came as a "complete surprise and without any warning." Think about that for a second. This isn't a player finding out he's been dropped on a team sheet. This is the head coach of a Premier League football club being shown the door with zero preparation. That's not just cold — it's disorganised, and it reflects badly on the people running this club.
Oliver Glasner, most recently at Crystal Palace, is now in talks to take the job.
How Do You Treat Someone Like This?
We're not here to paint Pereira as a victim who's beyond criticism. Football management is brutal and results-driven, and Forest's owners have made clear they will act decisively when they think it's necessary. Fair enough. But there's a difference between being decisive and blindsiding your own head coach. The fact that Pereira himself went public to confirm he had no warning tells you this wasn't a mutual agreement dressed up for the press — he was cut loose, and he wants people to know it.
For a club that spent years fighting its way back to the top flight, you'd hope Forest had built some kind of internal culture that treats people with a bit more respect than that. What message does this send to the next manager walking through that door? That the moment the board decide they want a change, you'll find out through a phone call — or maybe you won't even get that.
Glasner In, But Is He The Right Call?
On the football side, bringing in Oliver Glasner isn't a ridiculous idea. The man won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt. He had Crystal Palace playing some decent football at points during his time there. There's pedigree there, no question.
But the timing and the manner of this whole situation raises questions that go beyond who the next manager is. Forest finished the season in the Premier League — a result Pereira delivered. If the plan was always to move on from him this summer, why not handle it properly? Why let it play out in a way that makes the club look reactive and shambolic?
We've seen Forest do a lot of things right in recent years. The recruitment has been ambitious, the ground atmosphere has improved, and they've re-established themselves among the top clubs in England. But decisions like this one — rushed, poorly communicated, and leaking out through the manager's own statement — undercut all of that.
Our verdict: Glasner might work out fine. But Forest owed Pereira better than this, and the way they've handled it should concern anyone who cares about how this club is run. Getting the right manager matters — but so does how you treat the one you're moving on from.