High on the list of advice for any Nottingham Forest head coach might be: rent a house, do not buy.
Among the 17 permanent appointments before Vitor Pereira at the City Ground, only Steve Cooper has lasted more than two years.
The record stretches back into the ownership of both Nigel Doughty and Fawaz Al Hasawi, long before Evangelos Marinakis officially took over in May 2017.
Pereira is the fourth head coach since September, when he was appointed as the replacement for Sean Dyche. But as the 57-year-old settles in, it is unlikely to be something that fazes him.
He has had a varied – and eventful – career path.
Forest is his 15th senior role, at his 14th different club, over two decades. His own average tenure as first-team head coach has been a little less than 15 months.
But he has historically been capable of making an immediate impact, in a career that has seen him win the Primeira Liga in Portugal (twice) with Porto and the Chinese Super League with Shanghai.
At Wolves, he took over a team stranded in the bottom three in the Premier League in December 2024 and had guided them to safety before the end of April. He was sacked in early November.
If Forest fans are looking for evidence of what Pereira is capable of, they only need to look back to his time in charge at one of Marinakis’ other clubs, Olympiacos, in 2015.
When he took over, the Greek club were still in the title race. But, in Piraeus, when their team is not sitting at the top of the Super League, it is a crisis.
Their previous manager, Michel, had won two titles and a Greek Cup, but by December 2014, the team had dropped out of the Champions League in the group stage and, at one stage, slipped as low as fourth.
Olympiacos have now won the Greek title 48 times. In Europe, only Glasgow clubs Celtic and Rangers (both 55) and Northern Irish club Linfield (57) have won more domestic titles.
“The outlook at Olympiacos is that titles are our right,” says Aris Bouloubassis of the Thrylos 7 International podcast. “Not winning it is a disgrace.”
Pereira brought structure and stability to Olympiacos, who cruised to their 42nd Greek title by 12 points and also won the cup.
“Even now, people only have positive things to say about him,” says Bouloubassis. “Winning that season was our fifth title in a row. We had looked as though we were going to lose it, but Pereira brought us back to where we expected to be.”
So how did Pereira get the job done in Piraeus? And why was it so eventful?
Speaking before the second leg of the Europa League tie against Fenerbahce — another of his former clubs — Pereira said: “It’s about connecting; to connect the people; to give confidence to them, to create the energy that we can enjoy our work.
“We can give them freedom to express themselves. We can give them tactical organisation and we can create this energy with smiles, with positive beliefs, and a trust in all of that.”
In Athens, the Portuguese inherited an impressive squad.
Ibrahim Afellay was a Dutch international on loan from Barcelona. Arthur Masuaku went on to make more than 100 appearances for West Ham. Luka Milivojevic subsequently made 198 appearances for Crystal Palace. Alejandro Dominguez, the Argentine No 10, had won titles in his homeland and in Russia.
Pajtim Kasami — who had spent time at Fulham and had a brief spell on loan at Forest — was important in midfield.
“Some of what Pereira did was tactical. Part of what he did was just a mental refresh. Their heads had been down, the mood was not good in the dressing room,” says Bouloubassis.
“He is a great motivator. He was very good at putting an arm around players when they needed it. He was emotionally intelligent.”
Pereira was also quick to win over fans, even if his actions got him in hot water with the authorities.
In the derby against rivals Panathinaikos, in February 2015, the atmosphere had already been stoked by Marinakis taking a walk around their hosts’ pitch in front of their vociferous supporters.
Marinakis and Pereira are pictured during the Panathinaikos-Olympiacos game in February 2015 (Vladimir Rys Photography via Getty Images)
Shortly afterwards, Pereira followed suit, with his path taking him in front of Panathinaikos’ most hardcore supporters — some of whom then proceeded to invade the pitch.
Panathinaikos, their title rivals, won 2–1, but were subsequently punished with a three-point deduction after the actions of their fans.
A few weeks later, Olympiacos played at another Athens club, AEK, in the second leg of the Greek Cup quarter-final. The first leg had ended 1–1. In the 89th minute, Olympiacos scored, their players celebrated, Pereira joined them, and another pitch invasion by fans followed.
The match was abandoned and was awarded as a 3-0 win to Olympiacos. Pereira was fined and, four years later, according to reports in Greece, he was sentenced in absentia (he was managing in China at the time) to an eight-month suspended sentence for his actions.
“In Greece, most people would not even bat an eye over this type of thing anymore,” says Bouloubassis. “This is a league where, every other week, there are huge, lengthy club statements issued from one club against another, or about the standard of refereeing.
“This is a league where another owner carried a gun onto the pitch; where other owners will routinely scream and shout at referees.
“Fans in these derby games throw flares onto the pitch — they have been known to throw doorknobs…
“It is normal. It is why opposition fans are no longer allowed to attend derby games. But it is a quick way to get the fans to adore you. Anything that annoys the fans of Panathinaikos would be seen as a good thing.”
Pereira did leave Athens under a cloud at the end of the campaign, amid talk that he had already had conversations with other clubs. He subsequently joined Fenerbahce, who Forest face tonight at the City Ground in the second leg of their Europa League play-off tie, which they lead 3-0 after the first leg in Istanbul.
“What he has consistently shown is that he can fix problems; that he can find a solution and then, potentially, move on,” says Bouloubassis. “There is no better coach to save Forest’s season.”
If Pereira can keep Forest up, while also making progress in the Europa League, maybe his tenure at the City Ground might also last a little longer than his previous roles.