Chris Hughton has been appointed manager of Championship side Nottingham Forest, with Sabri Lamouchi sacked after just over a year in the role.
It is Hughton's first role since he was sacked by Brighton and Hove Albion in May 2019 after four years at the club, having guided them to promotion to the top flight two years earlier. The 61-year old has also managed Newcastle United, with whom he also achieved promotion from the second tier in 2010, Norwich City and Birmingham City.
Lamouchi leaves the City Ground after 15 months, having signed a contract extension in June. Despite guiding Forest to a play-off place before the start of lockdown, his side capitulated following the restart, picking up just 10 points out of a possible 27. A catastrophic 1-4 home defeat to Stoke City ensured they missed out on the last play-off place to to Swansea City on the final day of the season.
Results in the new campaign have been equally as bleak, Forest losing all four Championship games and being knocked out of the EFL Cup by Barnsley, scoring only once. The club currently sit 22nd in the table.
Following the 1-2 defeat to Bristol City last weekend, the former Stade Rennais and Ivory Coast boss had said that he had "more responsibility than anyone" for the club's recent form, but this acknowledgement was seemingly not enough as Lamouchi becomes the fifth permanent manager to be shown the door by owner Evangelos Marinakis in his three and a half years of owning the club, with Hughton becoming Forest's 13th manager since 2011.
Lamouchi: Popular with fans, but the table does not lie
Lamouchi was the first manager to bring a sense of tangible success to a club that had for many years stagnated in the Championship, earning him admiration amongst fans. Before the lockdown, their away record was envious, losing just four times on the road - the third-best record in the league - helping elevate the club to a play-off place. Even after the club's spectacular fall, the manager remained popular.
However, football is - as is all too often proved - a results business. He was criticised for his negative style of play, and although his Forest side proved a difficult one to get past, they seldom cruised past teams, often snatching victory by a single goal.
Not all the problems which have maligned Forest's recent campaigns are of Lamouchi's making, and some were present long before he arrived. Players have come and go in the blink of an eye; 60 have been signed since June 2017, but not necessarily in the right place. The signings of Lyle Taylor and Miguel Guerrero over the summer have aimed to lighten Lewis Grabban's workload, but symptomatic of the club's curious recruitment, seemingly neither have found their shooting boots.
For the club's owners, lightening cannot be allowed to strike twice. Although Lamouchi could be forgiven for a temporary slip in form in one season, that form becoming permanent in the next is something which, in the eyes of the owners, cannot happen. Forest's form in the new season has likely caused flashbacks for Lamouchi's bosses, and with no sign of improvement, these have seemingly been traumatic enough for the Frenchman to be shown the door.
Lamouchi will remain popular in the East Midlands. Fans have been quick to criticise the club for their treatment of a man who finally gave them something to be excited about. But he of all people will understand that the table does not lie, and with Forest propped up only by Wycombe Wanderers and Sheffield Wednesday in the relegation zone, the latter due to a points deduction, the table makes for grim reading.
Hughton: A cautious manager, but a proven record
Hughton's football philosophy may well fuel concern amongst some in the red half of Nottingham. Whilst at Norwich City he was regularly criticised for a perceived negative approach to football. Like-for-like substitutions, a lack of desire to attack teams and a general lack of excitement in games were all endemic features of his time in Norfolk. Whilst at Brighton, Hughton's side went over 12 hours without scoring a goal, suggesting those hallmarks were still there for all to see.
However, the Premier League is a very different beast from the cut-and-thrust of the Championship. Hughton, who won the FA Cup twice as a player with Tottenham Hotspur, has taken teams out of the second tier twice as a manager - no mean feat. He is also considered by many to have been given an unfair crack of the whip at both Newcastle and Birmingham, and as such has seemingly emerged from every job with a solid reputation as a stable, dignified presence.
Whilst his footballing philosophy may be questioned by some, Hughton is both likeable and, more importantly for the Forest hierarchy, the opposite of his predecessor. In the eyes of the club's higher-ups, the Lamouchi experiment failed on the pitch, as popular as he was with the fans, evidenced by the club's mere two-line statement confirming his exit.
Hughton's appointment embodies a knee-jerk reaction by his new bosses to Forest's sliding form, and is a decision that does have its merits. But it remains to be seen whether he can do it again in the Championship, and whether the club's owners' revolving-door policy with managers may finally be vindicated, sixth time lucky.