Does Sean Dyche represent progress or a significant step backwards for Nottingham Forest?

This time last year, the Tricky Trees were flying high near the top of the Premier League table, and with Nuno Espirito Santo at the helm, it looked as if the sleeping giant had well and truly woken up.

The 2024/25 campaign ended with Nottingham Forest in a very pleasing seventh position, which resulted in continental football for the first time in several decades. Not bad for a team that didn’t return to the Premier League until 2022.

Unfortunately, things have turned fairly sour, fairly quickly this term, with Forest currently sitting in a disappointing 18th position at the time of writing. Nuno Espirito Santo was given his marching orders in early September, before Ange Postecoglou, who won the UEFA Europa League with Tottenham last season, was appointed days later.

Postecoglou lasted barely a month before he too was given the boot, prompting volatile owner Evangelos Marinakis to appoint Sean Dyche. If you’d told me six months ago that Sean Dyche would be back in the Premier League as the Nottingham Forest manager by October, I’d have laughed and then some. Isn’t the footballing world a bizarre one at times?

Is this the beginning of another bleak spell?

For Forest, the highs have always been high, just ask those who were around to see Brian Clough mastermind back-to-back European Cup successes in 1979 and 1980.

The problem is that when they fall, the Tricky Trees don’t just stumble, they spiral, often into the depths of despair. Make no mistake about it, even at this early stage, it looks as if the men from the city ground have fallen. Let’s just hope that this fall is anything like the one that saw them exit the top flight for a quarter of a century.

Not the appointment of a club looking to progress

Whichever way we spin it, the club has gone from holding its own in the top six to struggling massively, sacking not one, but two managers, appointing a man who, let's be honest, you only really call when looking to stay in the division in scrappy style. In other words, this managerial appointment does not point towards a club that is moving in the right direction, rather one that could be about to enter freefall.

Let’s look at Sean Dyche’s Premier League record:

● 2014/15: Finished 19th as Burnley manager (relegated)

● 2016/17: Finished 16th as Burnley manager

● 2017/18: Finished 7th as Burnley manager (qualified for Europa League)

● 2018/19: Finished 15th as Burnley manager

● 2019/20: Finished 10th as Burnley manager

● 2020/21: Finished 17th as Burnley manager

● 2021/22: Sacked as Burnley manager

● 2022/23: Finished 15th as Everton manager

● 2023/24: Sacked as Everton manager

In fairness, Dyche doesn’t have a bad managerial record in the Premier League, given that he’s only worked with Burnley and Everton, though he’s certainly not a glamorous appointment.

At the end of the day, things are always changing in football, so sometimes it is about rolling with the punches and being reactive. Dyche’s appointment is clearly a reactive one, and the no-nonsense former centre-back will probably stop the rot. He’ll certainly make the Tricky Trees tougher to get at than Ange Postecoglou did, while in Chris Wood, the former Burnley boss has a striker that he knows well, a striker who appreciates the direct approach.

It’s very, very possible that the ship is steadied nicely by Dyche, but let’s be real, that’s about the best Forest fans can hope for before another change of direction. Is Dyche the man to drive Forest forward and get them back to where they were under Nuno Espirito Santo last season? Definitely not, but is he what they need right now? He may just be.

Right now, the Tricky Trees are the fifth most fancied side to drop out of the division, with most bookmakers pricing a Nottingham Forest relegation around the 11/4 (3.75) mark.

Personally, I wouldn’t be rushing to take such odds, especially with a handful of other clubs looking less capable, at least in terms of playing personnel. There’s more than enough talent in the Forest squad, while Dyche is smart enough to do the right things as far as staying in the division is concerned, though in the mid-to-long term, are the Tricky Trees heading in the wrong direction?

If you fancy betting on Nottingham Forest to get relegated, or are looking to bet on the biggest competitions such as the Premier League or the Champions League, check out the best odds and sportsbooks at FIRST.com.