Nuno Espírito Santo – The New Man In Town

Nuno Espírito Santo: Who is the new Forest boss hoping to turn around the club’s poor form?

It is no secret that Forest’s form is causing concern amongst the fanbase, and indeed the ownership. Following such concerns, the club made a “difficult decision” to sack manager of two-years, Steve Cooper – the manager responsible for the clubs promotion back to the Premier League, survival in the league, and many life-lasting memories for Reds fans.

Now with a new manager, just half a day after the announcement of Cooper’s departure, Nuno Espírito Santo finds himself with a huge challenge: Turn around Forest’s form, Unite the fanbase once more, and build stability.

Who is Nuno Espírito Santo?

Born in São Tomé, Portuguese São Tomé & Principe, in January 1974, Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo is a coach with many accolades to his name, and some truly historic clubs.

A goalkeeper in his playing career, which spanned from 1992-2010 (professionally), Nuno at his height played for the likes of Vitoria Guimarães, Porto, and Deportivo La Coruña. Fairly successful as a keeper at club level, Nuno featured for Portugal at the 1996 Olympics, with the team finishing fourth. He would be called up to the 2008 EURO side, but would not get a cap – he did however feature for Portugal’s B team 3 times between 2000 & 2001.

Retiring in 2010, Nuno wasted no time in making a switch in career – same sport, different role. Once Porto decided not to renew the then-36 year old Goalkeeper’s contract, Nuno ‘called a day on his career’. Using his goalkeeping skills, he joined former coach Jesualdo Ferreira in his venture at Malaga CF, joining as a goalkeeping coach, both would later join Panathinaikos FC later that year.

A year and a half later, Espírito Santo found himself as not only a coach, but a head coach, taking on the job at Rio Ave FC – a club which now is owned by Nottingham Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis. Despite losing his first fixture, his side went on to beat Sporting Lisbon just the week after; Rio Ave would place 6th place that season. An interesting fact to note also, they had both Jan Oblak & Ederson in their goalkeeping ranks back then! After a decent first season, Nuno’s heroics shone as the club achieved Taça de Portugal & Taça de Liga finals, and even achieved a place in the UEFA Europa League, for the first time in the clubs history.

After this sensational campaign, Nuno took over at Valencia, signing a one-year contract at the club, leading the ‘Oranges’ to a 4th place finish in his first season. However, after a poor start to his La Liga & Champions League campaigns, Nuno resigned from his position in November 2015.

After a break in management, Nuno would return to Porto, the club he left just five years prior, a club in which he “vowed to return to”. His stint at the club would start with a 3-1 win over former employers, Rio Ave FC, despite this initial success, Porto would relieve Nuno of his duties at the end of the season as the club achieved no silverware, placing 2nd in the table.

Now the success story: Wolverhampton Wanderers. Signing in May 2017, Nuno Espírito Santo was mostly unknown to much of the fanbase, but he would soon become a club legend, creating some of the most memorable memories along the way. Champions in the Championship with Wolves that season, and achieving promotion to the Premier League, earning an extended contract until 2021. A season later, Nuno’s side achieved Europa League football after finishing 7th – the clubs highest finish in the Premier League since the 80’s. Despite COVID a season later, Nuno’s side once again finished 7th, later reaching the Quarter-finals of the Europa League. The dream would come to an end, however, as the club announce that – by mutual agreement – Nuno Espírito Santo would leave the club at season-end, ending a three-season affiliation with the club which saw recurrent success.

With his name now known in European football on the top-end, the Premier League, Nuno would soon find himself at the helm of London side, Tottenham Hotspur, replacing Jose Mourinho. Nuno started well with Spurs, beating Manchester City at his opening fixture, but results would fade, eventually losing 5 out of his final 7 games, leaving Tottenham’s board furious, and Nuno now without a job, just four months after he took charge.

Another long reflection took place, and surprisingly, Nuno moved to Saudi Arabia – a country investing incredulous sums in football as part of their 2030 vision – where he took over as new head coach of Jeddah side, Al-Ittihad. Nuno’s record at the Saudi Side saw him manage 56 games, winning 36, drawing 12, and losing 8: a 64% win rate. In this time also winning the Saudi Super Cup, and the Saudi Pro League – a title it had not won for 14 years. After a loss in the AFC Champions League, and reports of players not favouring him, Nuno was sacked as the clubs had coach.

Now with a new challenge at Nottingham Forest, Nuno is hoping to replicate previous successes, and change Forest’s fortunes, building off of the incredible foundations laid by Steve Cooper in his years in charge. Boots to fill, but credentials would suggest that this is entirely possible.

How does Nuno Espírito Santo play? And will it suit Forest?

In all honesty? Similar to how Steve Cooper set up on many occasion. Typically using a counter-attacking style of play, Nuno looks to utilise an ‘overload’ in the midfield, typically using overlapping fullbacks/wingbacks to aid movement up the pitch.

Nuno has insisted on using various formations throughout the course of his managerial career; 3-5-2, 3-4-3, 4-1-4-1, are just some examples of formations used by the Portuguese coach, who spent time under the guidance of Mourinho while a player at Porto. The emphasis on quick attacking transition is key to a successful ‘Nuno tactic’ – something Forest have lacked since their Premier League return, in my view, is the quick attack – lead, typically, by the likes of Djed Spence & Johnson in the championship, after a pass out from the defence. In the Premier League, the goals that defied my opinion can be seen as Taiwo Awoniyi vs Arsenal (h), Johnson v Everton (h), Awoniyi vs Chelsea (a), Awoniyi vs Arsenal (a) – are some of the best examples of quick breakthroughs leading to a goal for the Reds. Johnson & Elanga’s pace aided the counter, Gibbs-Whites flair aided Johnsons runs onto goal the season before.

I feel that Nuno’s counter-attacking style will certainly differ in many respect to Steve Coopers, especially with what the new head coach will demand from fulll-backs/wingbacks, but in order for it to work effectively, January recruitment will need to be successful – a new Striker has to be the absolute priority for the club. Forest create chances, but lack the clinical edge; commonly seen against Tottenham in the Reds’ most recent fixture.

Nuno will need to add more of his own players, but having the likes of Willy Boly & Gibbs-White – players he’s coached before at Wolves – will certainly help. Serge Aurier at Spurs too. His proficiency in Portuguese will no doubt help with communication all barriers that may exist in the squad too.

So will Nuno tactically change a lot? Not necessarily. However, he does have a clear identity – and in my view, that’s what Forest need most. Often playing in a way that doesn’t resemble one with a clear plan, but in fairness, lacking the ‘focal point’ in the absence of Taiwo Awoniyi.

The build-up is intense, and focus on rapid attacks and switches in play into space created by the press should make Forest a tough team to face.

What is Jorge Mendes’ significance in this story?

A name ‘thrown about’ often, especially when referring to recent workings involving Marinakis owned football clubs, Jorge Mendes is a super agent – most notably being the agent of one of football’s greats, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Mendes brokered the deal to secure Evangelos Marinakis’ acquisition of former Nuno side, Rio Ave FC in recent months, for one example. Another example of Mendes’ work has been helping his client, Pedro Alves, become the new Sporting Director at Olympiacos – a position formerly held by Antonio Cordon, who now becomes somewhat of an “executive sporting director”, overseeing all of Marinakis’ footballing ventures. Now, Mendes’ client, Nuno Espírito Santo, becomes manager of Nottingham Forest – it’s fair to say that the Portuguese super agent has had many dealings with the Marinakis’ as of late.

Back to his play in days, while at Vitória Guimarães, Nuno met a nightclub owner in Porto – Jorge Mendes – and became his first client. In 1997, Mendes would broker the deal for Nuno to join Deportivo De La Coruña, a deal which cost around $1m – a mere sum in comparison to the likes of his client, Joao Felix’s £100m+ move to Atletico Madrid in recent years. Nonetheless, it was the start of Mendes’ empire, and Nuno’s career with Mendes would/has seen many successes. Mendes’ involvement with recruitment at Wolves during Nuno’s reign proved successful, with the likes of Joao Moutinho, Pedro Neto, Neves, Patricio, etc, all joining – his influence always present.

What now?

Nuno Espírito Santo takes charge for his first game as Nottingham Forest head coach on Saturday 23rd December 2023, as Forest take on Bournemouth at the City Ground – the clubs first game without Steve Cooper in the dugout since September 2021.

Nuno’s first four fixtures are Bournemouth, Newcastle United, Manchester United & Blackpool in the cup. A tough run, with eyes set on Premier League survival – make no mistake, Forest, at this point in time, are in a relegation battle, and Evangelos Marinakis’ ambitions span much further than simply staying up because there is “three worst teams” – he demands improvement.