Speaking recently on The Athletic’s Headline podcast, Paul Taylor discussed Nottingham Forest’s appointment of Chris Hughton, and what the board will be expecting of the former Brighton & Hove Albion boss.
After losing all four of their opening Championship fixtures of the 2020/21 campaign, with the club sitting in 22nd place in the league table, it was announced on Tuesday that Forest had sacked their manager Sabri Lamouchi and replaced him with Chris Hughton.
Over his last four full seasons in charge of a side in the Championship, the 61-year-old has finished first with Newcastle United in 2009/10, fourth with Birmingham City in 2011/12, third with Brighton in 2015/16 and second with the Seagulls in 2016/17.
Speaking recently on the Headline podcast, in response to a question as to whether the Nottingham Forest board will be expecting promotion under Hughton this season, Taylor stated:
“Yeah, absolutely – without question. Only three or four games of the season have gone, [there’s] still a vast portion of the season still to go.
“The one thing you would say [is] the summer recruitment did cause, not a sense of panic amongst fans, but there [were] questions raised by fans about why they needed 12 or 13 new signings, which is understandable, but the end result of it – whilst it might have felt like a bit of a scattergun approach in the transfer window this summer – is a squad that is stronger than the one that almost won promotion last season, without doubt.”
Do you think Forest can achieve promotion under Hughton this season?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
From Taylor’s comments, it is clear that the journalist is of the belief that the Nottingham Forest board will indeed be expecting Hughton – despite the fact the club currently sit in the relegation zone of the Championship – to achieve promotion this term.
As such, it would appear that the manager will have his work cut out for him, however, the summer additions of players like Lyle Taylor, Harry Arter and Cyrus Christie, amongst many others, have the potential to make Hughton’s task slightly easier, as Taylor suggests.
And considering the manager’s record in charge of previous clubs at Championship level, it would indeed seem as if he has a great track record of guiding teams to the Premier League.