Postecoglou admits posting Nottingham Forest is a ‘bad decision’

Ange Postecoglou has said he has only himself to blame for his extraordinarily short reign as manager of Nottingham Forest, with the Australian accepting he made “a bad decision” in taking the Premier League struggler’s job.

The 60-year-old Postecoglou was appointed as successor to Nuno Espirito Santo in September.

But notoriously impatient Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Postecoglou just 39 days later after the experienced manager lost six of his eight games in charge.

Reflecting on his time at Forest for the Overlap podcast, Postecoglou said an over-eagerness to get back into management after leaving Tottenham Hotspur three months earlier was the cause of his problems at the City Ground.

“There’s no point in blaming it on ‘I didn’t have time’ or something like that,” Postecoglou said. «I should never have gone in there. That was on me. It was a bad decision on my part to go in there. I have to take responsibility for that.»

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«It was too soon after Tottenham. I took over at a time when they were used to doing things a certain way, and obviously I’m going to do things differently. I have to deal with that, that was my fault. It’s no one else’s fault.»

Postecoglou is still without a club but has ruled out returning to Celtic, where he enjoyed a successful two-year spell from 2021 to 2023, with 73-year-old Martin O’Neill currently in charge of the Scottish champions until the end of the season.

“I loved Celtic, they are a great football club,” said Postecoglou, who left the Glasgow giants to join Spurs. “If I had been younger, I probably would have stayed longer, probably three to four years.

“I think I could have progressed with them in Europe, but at the time it would have taken me a long time to reach this kind of space, and the opportunity to join Tottenham was too good.

«As far as going back, I’m not going back. I just don’t think that was my career.»

Whatever the next step will be, it will be something new, somewhere I can make an impact, somewhere I can win things, but it doesn’t take away from the affection I have for Celtic.»

Published on February 19, 2026