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NO WAY! ABSOLUTELY YES!

Without a doubt the most disliked Australian to arrive in the Nottingham area since a sinister lodging owner from a popular soap appeared in a Mansfield panto 20 years back, Ange Postecoglou’s time in charge at the Nottingham stadium could scarcely have got off to a more inauspicious start. Although the boos and catcalls that actor the Neighbours star was subjected to during a festive pantomime were generally lighthearted, the venom of the abuse hurled at the Forest manager during the team’s European setback by their Scandinavian opponents on last Thursday was so intense that it is tough to see the coach who has been in charge for a mere handful of fixtures will keep his job to hear the Christmas jeers this holiday season. Multiple times the 60-year-old’s shouts of “There’s someone there!” went unheeded by his hapless players, especially when the opposition scored their initial strikes from poorly handled set-pieces. Nowhere near the celebratory mood they’d hoped for, Forest’s first European home game in nearly three decades ended in bitterness with the crowd telling the boss he’d be “fired by tomorrow”, before praising his well-liked, recently dismissed predecessor, the Portuguese tactician.

“I realize the environment is negative, I understand people’s attitude, particularly towards me, but I don’t fret over it, I’ve been here before,” the coach retorted in reply, while subjecting the ground near him to the typical intense glare. “Nothing surprises me in football, it’s the climate we’re in. That appears to be the trend. I have no power over it. Followers are let down, they have every right to their view. I listened to what they said.” Even if those followers are allowed to complain, it could be suggested that they might be more sensible choosing a better aim for their anger. In the end, it was the club owner who fired a popular figure to hire the Australian, who was always going to begin his reign on a hiding to nothing. Watching from the owners’ area as he went through a repertoire of angry, grim faces unseen since that period he learned the North London club had initiated the player’s transfer clause, the wealthy owner has up to now dodged any kind of serious criticism from supporters, a sizable group of whom remain convinced the he is beyond reproach.

As the clock ticked past noon on Friday, rumours of the coach’s imminent dismissal proved to be overstated and reports suggest his job remains protected until such time as … actually, it’s not. Although the club boss can argue with some mitigation that he has had very few sessions on the training ground to instil the style and strategic detail that resulted in Tottenham Hotspur failing to win a majority of their Premier League fixtures last season, his team’s fixture list remains forbidding and relentless. Up against the Magpies, the Blues, Porto and the Cherries coming soon it is difficult to see from where a initial success under the new boss will come before what could possibly become the ultimate sack-race clash against the Old Trafford side.

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TOP STATEMENT

“I avoid conflicts and disputes, who names people, truthfully, I won’t mention anyone’s name here. But I think there was a bit of a lack of respect there, along with some incivility, with no one giving you a ‘good morning’, a ‘good afternoon’” – the Brazilian winger takes a pop at his club over the cold atmosphere at the Theatre of Dreams, where warmth has likely worsened like the team’s form.

READER COMMENTS

Is there truth the Forest manager has assured followers he always wins a match in his following term?” – Pete Negri.

Far be it for me to seek to emphasize the cliché that Arsenal supporters are the sport’s most complaining followers, but Thabo Caves (the previous day’s mailbag) does make you wonder. Noting that rather than two games a week, the North London side are having to play more than two fixtures each week (oh, a half-hour more!) over a certain trio of weeks (for a roster with double coverage in all roles to as well) is not the discussion-closer he might imagine. Instead it’s just going to have the orchestra of the world’s smallest violins getting ready once more, while the other fans sigh in unison” – another reader.

I can’t work out whether your current contributors (on multiple matches weekly) are consciously, ironically recreating one of the high points of web discussion (family-friendly), or accidentally confirming the philosopher’s saying about past occurrences returning as comedy” – Nick Wiltsher.

For what it’s worth, the previous correspondent (the prior comments), I’m the same [wanting rich Premier League sides to be defeated abroad]. Since Forest lost the ability to negotiate Europe, Uefa football for me has led to a state of helpless fury, broken up only sometimes by the Romanian side and, at a push, the Spanish club. I care not one jot for the Reds’ achievements from the eighties right up to the 2005 final. I am unmoved by {‘that