“Just give me more time!” It was a remark said in jest back then.
Little more than 12 months on, Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi could utter the same phrase, but in a very different tone.
Those words came from the Frenchman pitchside at Elland Road, after his team’s second Championship game of his first season in charge. His first year in English football.
The Reds had one point to their name - thanks to Lewis Grabban’s late equaliser in the pressure-cooker environment that is an away trip to Leeds United with a raucous crowd in place.
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Few would have tipped Lamouchi’s side for a promotion push on that early August afternoon.
But he got the time he wanted. A whole campaign. The first Forest manager to have that luxury since Billy Davies.
Whether the same applies now, though, remains to be seen.
If results do not improve - and quickly - he’ll know there is likely to be only one outcome.
That was the case a year ago, too, of course. A bad run at any point, at any club - especially at one targeting the Premier League - always comes with the risk of the man in the dugout losing his job. They are always the fall guys.
Lamouchi was under pressure then. And he certainly is now. A very different kind of pressure.
A 2-0 home defeat to Cardiff City leaves the Reds winless after three games in all competitions this term; a run of nine without a victory if you stretch it back to last season.
That inexplicable end to 2019/20 feels like a cloud hanging over the City Ground.
The manager admitted on Saturday, some of his players seem to still be thinking about what happened against Stoke.
Perhaps, even a little subconsciously, the same applies to the head coach, too.
Forest were torn apart in the second half of that final match; those kinds of memories can prove difficult to bury - particularly given it was only a matter of weeks ago.
And that might help explain why the shackles have still yet to come off this year.
Again on Saturday, the hosts struggled to impose themselves on the game.
In the words of Sammy Ameobi, they got “bullied” in the first half; overrun by a Bluebirds side who caused them all sorts of problems and made the defence turn to jelly.
The second half was an improvement, with a change in shape making a difference.
Lyle Taylor had come on after little more than half an hour, partnering Lewis Grabban up top in a shift from Lamouchi’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.
And while 4-4-2, or some variation of that, might not always be the answer, there was enough there to suggest it is worth a go again at Huddersfield Town on Friday night.
Forest need to get on the front foot there. They need to score goals. They need to win.
They cannot afford to only start playing after they have fallen behind, as has been the case so far.
There has got to be a bit more bravery about their play. Not finding the back of the net in three outings has to be a concern.
A cautious approach is unlikely to cut it when there’s a desperation for three points.
At the moment, this team looks stuck in a rut.
They need to find a spark from somewhere and rediscover the battling spirit that earned Lamouchi so much affection earlier on in his tenure. It has been missing for a while now.
They need a confidence boost, too.
The Reds have created chances in their first two league games, but have lacked the conviction to finish them.
Grabban was guilty of spurning another one against Cardiff, and Ryan Yates should have done better with a second half header.
There are issues to address at the other end of the pitch as well.
Forest have become a soft touch. The two goals Kieffer Moore scored were all-too-easy.
The partnership of Tobias Figueiredo and Joe Worrall, which has been so solid in the past, needs attention.
The former has made a couple of critical, costly errors - conceding a clumsy penalty against QPR and leaving Moore with a free header for the opener this weekend.
It would be no surprise if there was a change against the Terriers. Perhaps at right-back, too, given Cyrus Christie’s arrival.
Lamouchi has different options now, thanks to some hefty summer recruitment. That brings its own challenges, trying to unite a squad packed with new faces and maintain harmony among those not playing.
It can also bring the temptation to keep tinkering - something which can exacerbate problems as much as solve them.
And, as the first two Championship games have shown, the head coach has a fair few issues to address. Urgently.
“All managers in the world need time. All managers, to get time, need results. And we don’t have the result,” Lamouchi said on Saturday.
There’s every chance he can turn this form around. He’s got a group of very good players and has proved adept at his job before.
The club have also been prepared to stand by him, even when rumours about his future circulated in the summer and then post-Loftus Road. You can make a case for avoiding the usual hiring-and-firing cycle.
Time is his enemy, though. And sooner, rather than later, the tide must start to turn.
