Forest’s latest manager has signed an 18-month deal but lasted only six months the last time he worked under Evangelos Marinakis
Vitor Pereira held his first press conference as Nottingham Forest boss on Tuesday and can be sure he is already in the line of fire.
Pereira, who was sacked by Wolves in November, is Forest’s fourth manager of the season after Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and recently Sean Dyche were all dismissed by Greek billionaire owner Evangelos Marinakis. Pereira’s appointment makes history as no Premier League team have ever had four different permanent managers in charge.
Forest are 17th in the Premier League and still in the playoff round of the Europa League. Pereira’s primary task is to keep them in the top-flight this season and Marinakis has shown he will not hesitate to pull the trigger if things are not going as they should.
“He has the fire, he has the passion,” Pereira said of Marinakis. “He has the ambition and he is not afraid to make decisions.
“He trusts my work, I trust his personality because in football we need passion too. He trusts my qualities, if not only the tactical qualities, the technical qualities, but human qualities also.”
Forest’s latest manager has signed an 18-month deal. He previously worked with Marinakis at Olympiakos, lasting only six months.
“I was young,” he said of that time in the Greek Super League’s 2014-15 season. “When we are young, we make mistakes, even now. Sometimes we decide with our heart and I made some bad choices but I didn’t have any problem with Olympiakos and they never sacked me.
“I remember the energy and the fire that we created. When I worked with [Marinakis], he never interfered in my work. But he likes to speak, to have meetings, to speak about what happens, what’s up.”
Forest face Fenerbahce in the Europa League on Thursday in Pereira’s first game. A positive result will inspire confidence but Pereira’s primary remit will be to turn the club’s fortunes around in the league, starting with a league game against Liverpool at the City Ground on Sunday.
“If you get results, you are in. If you don’t, you are out, and I accept that,” said Pereira. “Someone that wants to live in football needs to live with this kind of situation, needs to live with the passion, with the critics, with everything.
“If you are looking for security, you cannot be a manager. But if I want to be secure, I was a school teacher, and, you know, they pay bad salaries, and it was a difficult life to live.”
