Close menu

Martin O'Neill: Nottingham Forest to appoint club legend as manager

Last updated on .From the section Nottm Forestcomments481

Martin O’Neill is not a dinosaur – Chris Sutton

Nottingham Forest are set to appoint club legend Martin O'Neill as manager to succeed Aitor Karanka, reports BBC Radio Nottingham.

The 66-year-old, who played 371 games and won the European Cup as a Forest player, ended his five-year spell as Republic of Ireland boss last November.

He returns to a Reds side who are ninth in the Championship, four points outside the play-off places.

O'Neill will become Nottingham Forest's 11th manager since June 2011.

Karanka's exit from the City Ground - with Forest still very much in the promotion race - means O'Neill will arrive in a strong position both on the field and off it.

After finishing 17th in 2017-18, they invested heavily during the summer, with Joao Carvalho arriving from Benfica for a club record fee of £13.2m and striker Lewis Grabban joining in a £6m deal from Bournemouth.

The Forest job would be the Northern Irishman's first return to club management since a mixed spell with Sunderland, which saw him guide the Black Cats away from relegation from the Premier League in his first season but then struggle again the following campaign prior to his sacking in March 2013.

Will O'Neill match his Forest playing legacy?

Voted into Forest's all-time greatest XI in 2016, O'Neill has considerable stock with supporters.

He was part of the Brian Clough side that rose from the second division to champions of Europe, playing in the 1980 European Cup final having missed out on a place in the team 12 months earlier when goalscorer Trevor Francis took his place.

As a manager, O'Neill enjoyed a meteoric beginning to his career.

He guided Wycombe Wanderers into the English Football League, twice won the League Cup with Leicester City and led Celtic to three Scottish Premiership titles, three Scottish Cups and a League Cup - as well as the 2003 Uefa Cup final.

However, his experiences since coaching Aston Villa, who he guided to three consecutive sixth-place finishes in the Premier League, have failed to produce the same success.

Martin O'Neill pictured when he was a Nottingham Forest player
Martin O'Neill played for Nottingham Forest from 1971 to 1981

Clark, Pearce... now O'Neill?

O'Neill is not the first club favourite to return to Forest in a managerial capacity, with Frank Clark and Stuart Pearce both achieving mixed results.

Clark, who was named as Brian Clough's successor in 1993 at a time when then-Wycombe boss O'Neill was linked to the post, led Forest to promotion and into Europe with a third-placed finish in the Premier League.

However, Forest struggled following the departure of striker Stan Collymore to Liverpool and, amid off-field ownership uncertainty, he eventually left in December 1996.

Pearce's first taste of management was as caretaker in the aftermath of Clark's exit - and resulted in a manager of the month award before he relinquished the role when Dave Bassett was appointed.

He returned as full-time manager to huge emotional fanfare in July 2014.

The highlights - including four wins and a draw from the opening five games and victory against rivals Derby County in one of his final matches in charge - were offset by a run of just three wins in 23 games and he departed with Forest in 12th place in the Championship in early 2015.

Comments

Join the conversation

These comments are now closed.

481 comments

  • Comment posted by CraigCB11, at 12:08 14 Jan 2019

    Forest's biggest problem is ownership and leadership at boardroom level. It's been killing managers for years. Until that's sorted out managers will come and go as failures

  • Comment posted by U17446113, at 12:06 14 Jan 2019

    Great decision. He’ll be welcomed back at Forest where they’ve been Champions of Europe more times than Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham & Chelsea combined.

  • Comment posted by Pendle_Gazza, at 11:55 14 Jan 2019

    Arguably this is an appointment 15 or 20 years too late as far as Forest go. However, O'Neill is in the rare position of taking over a decent squad in a decent position, so there's got to be a fair chance of him getting them back in the promotion picture.

  • Comment posted by BaggiosPonytail, at 11:53 14 Jan 2019

    I'm not that excited about this appointment. He was a great player for us back in the day but his recent mangerial record is mixed. Some of the recent performances from the Ireland team were pretty dire. Hopefully he will not be bringing Keane with him!

  • Comment posted by Misstra Misstra, at 11:59 14 Jan 2019

    Just got the job but within minutes the usual sad lonely key'bored tappers are on the case. Good luck Martin back home and hopefully you'll make it feel like your home and we'll all be happy. A few of Saturdays team who didn't feel up for it may be feeling a little worried COYR

  • Comment posted by AndyPandy, at 11:53 14 Jan 2019

    Three or four good results and he'll be a hero. Three or four bad results and his job will be on the line.

  • Comment posted by Sankers23, at 11:50 14 Jan 2019

    The manager merry-go round continues.

  • Comment posted by Mighty_Imps, at 11:54 14 Jan 2019

    I can't see this one ending well!

  • Comment posted by alfreton red, at 13:38 14 Jan 2019

    to all the haters on here.have you got two stars on your shirt.COYR.

  • Comment posted by awaywiththefairies, at 13:56 14 Jan 2019

    am a lifelong Chelsea fan but watching forest in te 70,s and 80,s was a pure joy for me, this club has suffered enough and deserves to be back in the big time. Has Nigel ever been asked about taking over?, would be interested to know.

  • Comment posted by jmic, at 13:43 14 Jan 2019

    @162 PixelJared

    Same thing but better as only true champions were allowed in the European cup and not watered down money spinners like top 4 of the league therefore it was the true Champions League and not Champions league and all the hangers on

  • Comment posted by NorthantsRob, at 13:35 14 Jan 2019

    Good luck to Martin O'Neill and Forest!

  • Comment posted by Googly, at 11:54 14 Jan 2019

    O'Neill will be blown away by the wealth of talent he will have available to him compared with the Ireland job.

  • Comment posted by U17446113, at 14:54 14 Jan 2019

    @183 MDestro

    Forest had the harder run to the final in 1980 as teams in the competition then were actual Champions of their country, not 4th placed teams who finished 30+ points off the top of their own National league.

    Old European Cup worth 5 Champions Leagues!

  • Comment posted by KJB35, at 11:58 14 Jan 2019

    As a leeds fan was impressed with Forest when the beat us. Karanka's treatment by Forest was a joke! A massive step backwards for them

  • Comment posted by Xyz123, at 13:14 14 Jan 2019

    Not a Forest fan but wish him the best. As a football fan since the early eighties when they were in their pomp I personally would love to see Forest back in the top division...it’s been too long.

  • Comment posted by OxfordRover, at 13:20 14 Jan 2019

    Everyone, including me, thought Ranieri was a joke appointment at Leicester. Look what happened there. MoN loves the Club and will try his level best. He's been there before. Don't be surprised to see them in the Playoffs.

  • Comment posted by D1679679023099, at 14:26 14 Jan 2019

    198. Posted by part_time_supporter

    When Forest won the European Cup you had to either win your domestic league or be the EC holders to qualify.

    ..Quite bizarre to rebrand it the "Champions League" given that Champions, runners-up, 3rd & 4th placed finishers in their domestic leagues can qualify....

  • Comment posted by John, at 12:21 14 Jan 2019

    Great choice, ten years ago.

  • Comment posted by part_time_supporter, at 14:18 14 Jan 2019

    MDestro - you know very little.

    When Forest won the European Cup you had to either win your domestic league or be the EC holders to qualify.

    All the big clubs were in it, and Forest won it twice running with a squad of maybe 16 players, most of whom were knackered when they reached the EC finals as they were so good in the League Cup. they'd played over 60 games both seasons.

Also in Sport

Elsewhere on the BBC