Steve Cooper to remain as Nottingham Forest manager but must ‘improve immediately’

The club are 17th in the Premier League after a defeat to fellow strugglers Leeds

Steve Cooper guided Nottingham Forest back into the Premier League last season (PA Wire)

Steve Cooper will remain as Nottingham Forest manager but has been told “results and performances must improve immediately”.

After a 2-1 defeat to fellow relegation battlers Leeds on Tuesday, the club are now only out of the Premier League’s bottom three on goal difference, with fixtures against Manchester United and Liverpool to come in the next three weeks.

Cooper guided Nottingham Forest back into the English top flight last season for the first time since 1999, and signed a new, extended contract with the club in October.

But with Forest having taken only three points from their last eight games, speculation had suggested that Cooper could be sacked.

However, Cooper has now been publicly backed by the club’s normally trigger-happy owner, Evangelos Marinakis.

A statement from Marinakis said: “No one denies that our club is in a difficult position in the Premier League, but we wish to end the speculation and the false and disruptive reporting in the media to confirm that Steve Cooper remains our manager at Nottingham Forest.

“We have all been disappointed with recent performances and it is very clear that a lot of hard work needs to be done to address this urgently. Results and performances must improve immediately.

“Now is the time for everyone connected with our club, from us as owners, to the board, our supporters, backroom staff, coaches and players - to come together and fight to secure our status in the Premier League.

“There can be no time for distractions, rumours and speculation. There is only time for hard work, determination, a commitment from Steve and the players to getting the results we need and, of course, the continued magnificent support of the fans of Nottingham Forest.”

Forest next travel to face Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.

After progressing into the top flight via the Championship play-offs, a significant summer of investment saw 22 new signings arrive at the City Ground, but a large squad has struggled to gel with Cooper unable to settle on a consistent side.

The 43-year-old insisted after the defeat to Leeds that he was not thinking about his future.

“I always think of the greater good of the club, so any sort of worry, disappointment, frustration I’m feeling right now is the fact that Forest have lost a game they could have done so much better in,” Cooper said.

“That’s just the way I’m wired. I’ve trained myself just to focus on the stuff I can control and work as hard as I can every single day, believe in my work and stay true to it. That’s just where I’m at.”

Cooper, formerly in charge of England’s Under-17s and Swansea and generally highly thought of in the game, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the vacancy at Tottenham, who moved on from Antonio Conte last month.

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