Vitor Pereira on Tuesday warned Nottingham Forest’s restless squad to accept his methods or risk relegation to the Championship.
The Portuguese has become a record fourth permanent manager in the same season for Forest, following in the footsteps of Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche.
Though Nuno was sacked after a dispute with the club hierarchy, player power undoubtedly had a significant role in accounting for Postecoglou and Dyche, who was dismissed hours after the 0-0 draw with Wolves – the club who sacked Pereira last November.
Pereira said: ‘If you don’t buy the idea of the manager it’s a big problem, and you must also buy the personality. If you buy the idea and the person, have an open mind to receive information and to work hard together, it’s possible to achieve what we want.
‘I have had one training session with them but they have quality. I realised this quality for the first time last season when they played at Wolves. They are top players.
‘It’s been a difficult season for them. With different methods and different managers it’s not easy. But I accept this job because I believe in the quality of the players, the potential of the club and the ambition of the president (Evangelos Marinakis). I believe in our work. Together we can increase our level.’
New Nottingham Forest boss Vitor Pereira pulled no punches during his first press conference
Even though Dyche led Forest out of the relegation zone, the alarming nature of many performances – as well as evident player dissatisfaction – persuaded Marinakis to roll the dice again. Pereira’s first game will be at Fenerbahce, one of his former clubs, in the Europa League on Thursday. Yet his work with Marinakis at Olympiacos, when the 57-year-old joined in the middle of the 2014-15 season and led the club to a domestic double, has given Forest cause for optimism.
Pereira added: ‘He’s ambitious. He wants to win, he’s emotional and I know him very well. The conversation (before I took the job) was about our time at Olympiacos. I remember the energy and the fire we created. He asked me to be myself.
‘He liked the way that when we worked together, we got the league and the cup. It was in the middle of the season and we created a good relationship. He trusts my work and I trust his personality because in football we need passion too.’
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