Vitor Pereira is close to becoming Nottingham Forest’s fourth permanent manager of the season – a record in the Premier League era.
The Portuguese, who won the domestic double in 2015 when working for Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis at Greek giants Olympiacos, has agreed to replace Sean Dyche in a deal that could run to the end of next season.
His remit will be to keep the club in the Premier League. Forest are three points above the bottom three and their next league fixture is at home to Liverpool on February 22.
Pereira steered Wolves impressively to a comfortable survival last season, only to watch it all fall apart this term. The 57-year-old was sacked in November after his team lost eight of their first 10 games, collecting only two points.
Forest will be the 15th club of Pereira’s coaching career, which has spanned eight countries. His first game at Forest will be at Fenerbahce – another of his former clubs – on Thursday. If Forest overcome the Istanbul club over two legs, they will advance to the last 16 of the Europa League.
Dyche was appointed last October to replace Ange Postecoglou, who spent just 39 days in the dugout at the City Ground.
Pereira emerged as a front-runner to replace in the early hours of Thursday morning, with Daily Mail Sport reporting that he was a contender following his stewardship of Wolves to safety last season after his December 2024 appointment.
Vitor Pereira is set to become the fourth Nottingham Forest manager of the season
The Portuguese head coach previously worked with owner Evangelos Marinakis at Olympiacos in 2015
Dyche seemed resigned to his fate when he spoke after the Wolves game.
He said: ‘If anyone chooses to change in football now, that’s their decision. If the owner wants to make a change, then that’s up to him, and that’s the way football is now, that’s just the reality of it.
‘But I’m not questioning the owner here. He’s been absolutely fair with me from the beginning to the end, and I’ve been fair with him and told him the truth every step of the way.
‘That’s the way it goes. I’m a realist. I understand, you know, the noise here has changed significantly since the last few games.
‘Demand is high. That’s changed enormously in probably the last probably two years. Demand is getting higher and higher. Expectation immediately grows.
‘So if people will change it, and the owner wants to change, that is entirely up to him, but there’s no lack of respect for me to the owner on how he’s been.’