NOTTINGHAM FOREST HAVE appointed Aitor Karanka as their new manager on a two-and-a-half-year contract, the English Championship club announced this evening.
The Spaniard succeeds Mark Warburton, who was sacked at the end of last month, and takes over with two-time European Cup winners Forest currently 14th in the second tier.
“We are very pleased to have reached terms with Aitor Karanka to become the manager of Nottingham Forest,” said club chairman Nicholas Randall.
“He is an exceptional candidate who fully subscribes to the vision of the club’s owners and board for the future of the club.”
Academy boss Gary Brazil has been in temporary charge and oversaw Sunday’s 4-2 victory over holders Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup.
“I want to thank Gary Brazil, his staff and the players for their professionalism and loyalty in the last few days,” said Randall.
“In particular, the performance against Arsenal was truly outstanding and shows the potential of this fantastic club.”
Karanka, who worked under Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid, has been out of work since he was sacked by Middlesbrough in March as the club unsuccessfully battled against relegation from the Premier League.
It was the 44-year-old who got Boro back into the top flight during his three-and-a-half-year stay on Teesside and it is those Championship promotion credentials which have appealed to Forest’s Greek owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Forest are currently 11 points off the play-off places and Karanka’s first game will be at home to fellow former European champions Aston Villa on Saturday.
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Diageo not give them a dig out.
Oh, that’s right they are as Irish as Michael flately, beejaysus.
Drink local, support local
When people wonder why there are so few players produced in Ireland, this is why.
@Mogh Roith: can you elaborate?
I am from D12, one of soccers heartlands in Dublin, but in 2022.. no sport or club will survive with out a under age set up …James Gate never had this in my day …
@Exiled Dub: agreed. You need a feeder of some sort..expecting to pick off the best players once they move on from underage is not a viable strategy
Should serve as a warning to a few once big sides. If they don’t partner up with a schoolboy section they risk going defunct in a few short years. There are a few LSL sides that have a great history but are on their last legs.
And partnerships have to work both ways so they need to be bringing something to the table.
There are too many clubs in city’s and the country in general , if a guy can’t get a game with a club he will leave , he is not prepared to fight for his place anymore , this is just one problem . Also the standard of schoolboy player coming through is not of a standard to push for a place in a decent side , and if they are ? Then the academy’s will snap them up and promise them Loi football . These are only two problems outside of the obvious ones , which I won’t go into here .