We asked our staff of writers who should be the 2024-25 Premier League Manager of the Season and the decision was unanimously in favor of an import leading a historic, red-wearing club that surprised many with their success during a first full season at the helm.
And we’re not talking Arne.
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After taking over Nottingham Forest in December of last season and guiding them to safety, Nuno Espirito Santo has led his Tricky Trees back to Europe for the first time since 1995-96 and still has them alive for Champions League qualification in Week 37.
The 51-year-old Portuguese will finish this season with a resume that now includes bringing two Premier League clubs into Europe for the first time in decades after bringing Wolves back to the continent in 2019-20.
While Liverpool’s Arne Slot, Newcastle’s Eddie Howe, and even dark horse Vitor Pereira of Wolves have been lauded for their incredible seasons, here’s why we went with Nuno.
Nuno’s meticulous coaching set Forest up for success — by Joe Prince-Wright
I was going to say Slot, and of course he deserves massive credit for winning the Premier League title in his first year in England. But what Nuno achieved is special — everybody had Nottingham Forest down as relegation candidates at the start of the season but they’ve been coached meticulously and set up to soak up pressure, then be effective on the counter. It has worked superbly well. Forest being up in the top five for basically the whole season has been incredible and Nuno has got the absolute most out of his squad of players. As a bonus, he is such a nice bloke. Special mentions to Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth, Marco Silva at Fulham, Eddie Howe at Newcastle, and Thomas Frank at Brentford for also overachieving. And we shouldn’t underestimate the brilliant jobs both David Moyes and Vitor Pereira have done to turn around Everton and Wolves respectively midseason too.
Forest’s leap from relegation fodder to Europe a stunner — by Andy Edwards
I know, I know, Nottingham Forest have fallen off pace and now look like they’re going to miss out on Champions League qualification, but 1) they’re still going to be in Europe next year, and 2) if you had told Forest fans, after watching their side scratch and claw their way to 16th and 17th the last two seasons, that they would finish 2024-25 no lower than seventh, well you’d be missing a hand (or two) because they’d have snatched it away before you got the words out of your mouth.
Forest squad’s buy-in shows masterful management — by Nick Mendola
There are only two backhanded compliments you could possibly put on Nuno’s season, and that’s that he was lucky with major injuries and also got a career season out of goalkeeper Matz Sels that was surely responsible for a few more points than expected (Forest, it must be noted, has nearly 16 more points than expected this season via Understat). He did this with working in not one but two new center backs in Nikola Milenkovic and Murllo, neither of whom would be out of place in a Best XI or Second XI, and by getting a half-dozen forwards to buy into their roles as counter attackers who were rarely going to play the full 90 minutes. Forest have been almost as steady as a ship can go, 9W-5D-4L at home and 9W-3D-6L away. They never lost more than two-consecutive PL games and boasts wins over Liverpool at Anfield as well as home wins over Aston Villa and Manchester City. Espirito Santo was named PL Manager of the Month in October, December, and March, and he’s surely my PL Manager of the Season.
