Ange Postecoglou’s astonishing rant after rumours Nottingham Forest boss will be SACKED just seven games in

The 60-year-old replaced fan-favourite Nuno Espirito Santo at Nottingham Forest on September 9, and things haven’t quite gone to plan so far.

Forest, who finished seventh last year, meaning they qualified for Europe, have not won a game since the opening day of the season.

Postecoglou has overseen seven of those matches, drawing two and losing five. Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, is said to be watching his side with a very keen eye - and he is not known for patience with managers.

Fans, too, have been left frustrated with results, making their feelings abundantly clear in Forest's recent 3-2 defeat against FC Midtjylland in the Europa League.

The home faithful could be heard singing “You're getting sacked in the morning” towards their new boss, and chanting former manager Espirito Santo's name.

With pressure already mounting, Postecoglou hit back at the rumours and slammed murmurs that he was “lucky” to get the Forest job ahead of his side’s crucial match against Chelsea this weekend.

“I guess from my perspective, I just don't fit,” the Australian declared. “Not [talking about] here. Just in general. If you look at it through the prism of: I'm a failed manager who is lucky to get this job, then of course it looks like this manager is under pressure.

“There is an alternative story: I came to the Premier League two years ago, I took over Tottenham - ‘Spursy Tottenham’.

“I was told by the chairman at the time: ‘This club has to win a trophy. We've tried to bring winners in, Jose [Mourinho] and Antonio [Conte], and it hasn't worked; we need something different.’

“I was slightly offended by that as I see myself as a winner. I took over Spurs, who finished eighth. No European football. Massive club who can't have two years without European football.

“We finished fifth in my first year. And every time Harry Kane scores a goal, I wish he'd just stayed one more year. It would have been handy to have him after finishing fifth.”

His first season in charge, finishing fifth, saw huge improvements.

The side had finished eighth the year before; a campaign that started under the tutelage of Antonio Conte, but saw two interim coaches, a squad in disarray and ended with Harry Kane departing for Bayern Munich.

It left Postecoglou with the difficult task of returning the club to Europe, one in which he duly delivered.

He continued: “I got them back into European football where Tottenham should be. I was in meetings, and people still at that club were in those meetings, where I was told that winning a trophy is everything for a football club. That's fine.

“We win a trophy. We shed the tag of being ‘Spursy’. It's Champions League football which brings some rewards, the opportunity to bring in better players. But all I've heard since I finished at Tottenham is I finished 17th last year.”

Lifting the Europa League in his second season in charge ended the club’s painful 17-year wait for a trophy - but it doesn’t tell the full story.

While they continued on their European voyage, their domestic form was left in tatters. The north London club endured their worst-ever Premier League finish, just one place above the relegation zone.

And it was this run of form that ultimately led to then-chairman Daniel Levy pulling the plug on the Postecoglou project this summer.

“So if you look at it from that prism of we finished 17th, then yeah, I'm a failed manager who is lucky to get another opportunity,” the former Spurs boss added.

“But if I have to explain why we finished 17th, just look at the last five or six different team sheets in the league last year to see who I prioritised, who was on the bench and who I was playing.

“The last game against Brighton, the players were out for two days partying, which I sanctioned because I felt they deserved to.

“So we finished 17th. If people think that's a reflection of me and my coaching, then people are looking at it through the prism of: I just don't fit.

“So we get to the current space where there's a different story to tell that maybe I'm maybe not a failed manager who was lucky to get this job.”

And the Australian signed off with a poignant message to his doubters: “I’m a manager where if given time, the story always ends the same. At all my previous clubs it ends the same: me with a trophy,” he declared.

Forest will host Chelsea on Saturday in a crucial game for Postecoglou. Marinakis will be eagle-eyed in the stands, and the former Celtic boss will know that he will have to start picking up results soon.

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