As a man who fell in love with England’s pub culture when he worked at Wolves, Vitor Pereira should feel right at home in his new job.
‘First the points, then the pints’ became Wolves’ fans slogan last season, as they would often see Pereira out and about in Wolverhampton locals after victories.
From the Ye Old Trip to Jerusalem to the Canalhouse or the King Billy, Nottingham has some of the best pubs in the country and if Pereira keeps Forest up, the red half of the city will be happy for him to drink them dry.
But which Pereira will turn up at the City Ground? The 2024-25 version toasted by supporters for leading Wolves to comfortable survival? Or the 2025-26 model, who quickly reached the bottom of the barrel and was sacked last November?
At least the 57-year-old knows what it is like to work for Evangelos Marinakis. Taking over at Olympiacos in the middle of the 2014-15 season, Pereira led the Greek giants to the League and Cup double before heading off to Fenerbahce that summer.
He rarely spends very long in a particular place: in a 24-year coaching career, he has worked in eight different countries and Forest will be his 15th club.
Former Wolves boss Vitor Pereira will be Nottingham Forest’s fourth permanent manager of the season – a Premier League record
As a man who fell in love with England’s pub culture when he worked at Wolves, Pereira should feel right at home in his new job
Forest are prepared to overlook Pereira’s dire final three months at Molineux and focus on what he has achieved in the past.
As a Portuguese, he will be able to communicate easily with Forest’s five Brazilians and put a smile back on the face of star centre back Murillo, who is not thought to have enjoyed life under Postecoglou or Dyche. Pereira’s English is solid and he has taken charge of 42 European club games.
This will be one of his trickiest challenges. Daily Mail Sport examines his 38 games so far in English football and what he can bring to the City Ground.
How we got here
In the hours after Forest’s 0-0 draw with Wolves, a delegation of senior players – thought to include club captain Ryan Yates along with Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams and Nikola Milenkovic – held very positive discussions with Marinakis.
Daily Mail Sport understands there was no rubbishing of Dyche in those talks, and nor did the players influence Marinakis’ decision to change coach for the third time this season. It was a calm, rational exchange between the parties.
Regardless of what the players told him, Marinakis had likely known for some days what he would do, if Forest did not beat Wolves. This meeting allowed him to take the temperature within the squad ahead of the 12 league games that will determine their fate.
It is thought the players emphasised the importance of rebuilding the unity that nearly carried Forest into the Champions League last season. Nuno Espirito Santo proved a master at forging that spirit and in the short time remaining this term, everyone hopes his successor will do the same.
The players also know this is a talented squad. Elliot Anderson may move for close to £100million this summer, while Gibbs-White was valued at £70m last year.
In the hours after Forest’s 0-0 draw with Wolves, a delegation of senior players – thought to include club captain Ryan Yates – held very positive discussions with Evangelos Marinakis
Nikola Milenkovic (left) and Morgan Gibbs-White (right) are also thought to have been part of the player delegation that went to see the Forest owner
No players were rubbishing Sean Dyche, but they emphasised the importance of rebuilding the unity that nearly carried Forest into the Champions League last season
Last summer, Forest spent more than £200m to enhance the group who finished seventh in the Premier League last term. The only significant departure was Anthony Elanga, who joined Newcastle for £55m.
Again, the senior players did not deride Dyche in the meeting. They do feel, though, that there is more ability in the squad than is currently being shown. It now falls to Pereira to unlock it.
Strengths
Pereira is a warm character and a strong communicator – exactly what Wolves needed when Gary O’Neil left in December 2024, and precisely what Forest require now. Less dogmatic than Ange Postecoglou and perhaps more comfortable in his own skin than Sean Dyche ever seemed, Pereira has a knack of understand what makes players tick.
He has worked with some notable stars like James Rodriguez, Joao Moutinho and Hulk, as well as World Cup winner Nicolas Otamendi, so establishing a rapport with Forest’s higher-maintenance characters should not be beyond him.
When he arrived at Wolves, the mood was lifted but it was not all about good vibes. Where O’Neil had demanded his team play from the back at all times, Pereira asked them to do so only when they could do safely.
His preferred system was 3-4-2-1 and it will be interesting to see if he deploys it at Forest, who have spent most of the last two years with a back four.
Pereira drilled the squad on attacking and defensive set-pieces and made them much tougher to break down. In 16 games under O’Neil that season, Wolves conceded 16 times from set pieces, scoring just twice. With Pereira at the helm for the remaining 22, they let in only six goals from dead-ball situations and scored seven.
There was a moment early in Forest’s 0-0 draw with Wolves that you sensed Dyche’s message was no longer being heeded. Demanding the ball be played long, Dyche watched helplessly as Ola Aina – standing only a few yards from him near the touchline – chose a short pass into midfield instead. Moments later, Omari Hutchinson did the same. Pereira will need their buy-in immediately.
He has worked with some notable stars like James Rodriguez, Joao Moutinho and Hulk, winning the Portuguese league with his Porto side in 2012 and 2013
He has enjoyed success across the world, winning trophies in Portugal, Greece and China, as well as managing in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Germany and Brazil
When he arrived at Wolves, the mood was lifted but it was not all about good vibes
Forest do not have a player as gifted as Matheus Cunha, who was given a free role by Pereira at Wolves. He will not ask his most creative players to turn into Vinnie Jones, though, as Anderson and Gibbs-White were asked to do in Forest’s 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa last month.
After Postecoglou and Dyche, Forest supporters need a manager to love again. Pereira has the personality to inspire that – if he can get the team moving up the table once more.
Weaknesses
Many of Pereira’s flaws emerged only when he was asked to take control for a full season. He made a mess of several aspects, yet it must be remembered that Cunha, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Nelson Semedo had left, while Jorgen Strand Larsen struggled with injury.
There is, however, a great deal Pereira would do differently were he to have his time at Molineux again. Daily Mail Sport understands that training sessions were considered very basic (no change from Dyche there, then) and that this season, standards slipped.
‘Standards’ is a word used often in football but rarely defined clearly. Usually, it will encompass details like punctuality, gym work, attitude, care taken with equipment, and sharpness of sessions.
It factors in players who stay late to do extra training, versus those who jump straight into the top-of-the-range 4×4 the moment they finish lunch. All of these markers were going south at Wolves during the early part of the season.
Searching for a formula to correct his team’s form, Pereira changed his captain four times and players were swapped in and out at alarming speed. Those on the sidelines sometimes felt they had been discarded without explanation and by the end, his relations with a significant number of them, including key midfielders Andre and Joao Gomes, had soured to the point of decay.
Recruitment? Well, that was hopeless. Chaotic and largely agent-led, with scant reliance on data or scouting, Pereira showed he had little skill in that department. That does not matter at Forest right now, though. All Pereira has to think about is 12 league games and a minimum of two European fixtures, using the players already in the building.
By the end, Pereira’s relations with a significant number of players, including key midfielders Andre (left) and Joao Gomes (right), had soured to the point of decay
A home defeat by Burnley was one of the final straws for Pereira, who left Molineux with just two points on the board and the club bottom of the Premier League
Pereira brought a remarkable eight members of staff with him to Molineux and by the end, it was felt that the message had become confused by the sheer number of people delivering it. Daily Mail Sport understands Pereira accepted this, too, and plans to bring a slimmer team to his next role.
Verdict
Forest can probably write off Pereira’s 2025-26 horror show at Wolves. When presented with a simple challenge – keep Wolves up – he thrived. This Forest squad is at least good as Wolves’ last season.
The problems Pereira encountered appeared when he was given a wider brief across the club. His career suggests he is a coach, pure and simple. Good with players, a natural communicator and a clear thinker.
As long as his mind is not cluttered with matters outside the day job, Pereira can keep this ship afloat. If he achieves it, he will never have to buy a pint in Nottingham again.