Nottingham Forest are set for more backroom change in the summer, with Craig Mulholland set to join the Scottish FA.
Mulholland will take on the role of chief football officer at the SFA, a senior position that will see him take charge of the performance aspect of the international sides.
The 56-year-old joined Forest as head of football development and talent management in the summer of 2023. His role involved overseeing the academy, B team and player development strategies. He will now depart at the end of the campaign to take on a new challenge in his home country.
With global head of football Edu also set to depart following a disappointing tenure at the City Ground, it will leave Forest with a significant void to fill this summer, considering chief football officer Ross Wilson joined Newcastle United in October.
Wilson and Mulholland worked together previously at Rangers, where the latter went from being a football in the community manager to the academy director between 2014 and 2023.
Mulholland has worked at the Scottish FA previously, in youth development roles, between 2000 and 2003.
Season of change continues
It has already been a season of remarkable change in the dugout and in the backroom at Forest — and there will be even more to come.
Edu’s appointment last summer was meant to be a bold statement of intent to the rest of football; a move that symbolised the club’s rise as they returned to European competition for the first time in three decades.
But his arrival was ultimately also one the catalysts that led to the first of three changes in head coach, when Nuno Espirito Santo — the man who had secured Europa League football and almost led Forest into the Champions League — departed in September, having taken issue with the club’s recruitment after Edu had begun work.
Edu’s time at Forest has not gone to plan (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
That was only the first domino to fall amid a chaotic eight months at the club.
In October, weeks after he had first been linked with the role, the highly-regarded Wilson joined Premier League rivals Newcastle.
With Edu on board, it was not felt that a replacement would be needed, as he performed a similar role across the Marinakis football empire, which also includes Olympiacos in Greece and Portuguese club Rio Ave.
But, as reported previously in The Athletic, Edu is himself set to depart at the end of the campaign, which will mean that there will need to be some significant restructuring done behind the scenes.
Mulholland is another respected figure behind the scenes at Forest, having helped, along with Wilson, to enhance and modernise the infrastructure at the Nigel Doughty Academy.
Forest believe they have one of the most innovative academies in England, one at the forefront of data research and in which they have invested millions of pounds to provide the next generation with a quality environment to learn and grow.
As well as that, there have been considerable improvements to the first team facilities, which Mulholland has played a part in. Forest installed new offices, treatment rooms, classrooms and synthetic indoor and outdoor pitches, among a general facelift that required a seven-figure investment.
That work has continued this summer with the addition of a new players’ car park and more building work ongoing to expand the facilities.
Wilson, Mulholland and Nuno were big influences in the success achieved at the City Ground last season. Vitor Pereira has steadied the ship since his appointment in February, as Forest continue their quest to progress in Europe and battle to avoid relegation.
Regardless of the division they find themselves in next season, they will need to make some fresh additions to their backroom.