Nottingham Forest football club of England have sacked head coach Steve Cooper with Nuno Espirito Santo lined up to replace him, according to reports.

Forest have won only one game in their last 13 and produced arguably their worst performances under Cooper in the recent defeats by Everton and Fulham, and owner Evangelos Marinakis has taken action.

Marinakis watched Forest’s home defeat by Tottenham from his base in Athens and dismissed Cooper in a meeting with the board on Tuesday afternoon, December 19.

Former Wolves and Tottenham manager Nuno is set to replace Cooper as he makes a return to English after a spell at Saudi club Al-Ittihad, having emerged as the leading candidate to take the job. The Portuguese coach is reportedly flying in to the UK for talks.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s last job in England was when he took charge of Tottenham in 2021 – but was sacked after less than four months.

Cooper ended the club’s 23-year exile from the top division in 2022 earning them promotion to the premier league .

After being appointed in Sep 2021, Cooper inherited a team bottom of the Championship and then led them to promotion via the play-off final.