Former Nottingham Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi has spoken about his sacking for the first time.
Lamouchi took the Reds to the brink of the play-offs in the Covid-19 pandemic paused 2019/20 Championship season and the club's best league finish since Billy Davies was in charge a decade ago.
He was sacked in October 2020 after Forest lost their first five matches of the season, but the 50-year-old holds little ill-will about how his tenure ended.
As well as reflecting on his own time at the City Ground, he has also discussed the job that Steve Cooper is currently doing Trentside and briefly touched upon the demise of his successor Chris Hughton this season.
“He is perfect for the club. He understood immediately what needed to change. He saw that the system was wrong and he has the right one now,” Lamouchi told The Athletic.
“He has made a very good impact. But I hope for him that he has time and stability. If he has that, you never know what is possible. Maybe something special can happen this year; maybe it will be next season.
“Forest have suffered many, many different disappointments. There is perhaps a feeling at the club that success ‘is not for us, it is for somebody else’. But it will happen.
"When, I do not know. With who, I do not know. You must never give up. But what I do know is that there was a long time when I was thinking, ‘Why not me?’
"I honestly hoped and felt that this time was coming for us; that we could achieve success together. I believed it.
“I hope that the new manager has the same thoughts now. That he sits and thinks to himself, ‘Why not me?’ Because why not? He can bring this fantastic club to the Premier League, for the fantastic people of Nottingham.
"Every manager and every player has to dream about being involved in a project like this one. I also thought Hughton was a good appointment. I spoke to him. He is a gentleman.”
