Sean O’Driscoll fired despite Forest’s Boxing Day win over Leeds

O’Driscoll, 55, was fired following the club’s 4-2 Championship win over Leeds and the board are believed to have already opened talks with a replacement.

Forest chairman Fawaz al Hasawi said: “He (O’Driscoll) can count himself unlucky to have lost his job with the team just one point away from the top six.

“With the January transfer window approaching, we feel it’s the right time to make a change.”

Hasawi later added on his Twitter account: “Made contact with PL manager tonight. Meeting Thursday.”

Former Republic of Ireland international O’Driscoll took charge at the City Ground on July 19, days after Steve Cotterill was sacked.

He leaves Forest sitting eighth in the Championship with a total of 36 points from 24 games.

He led the club to 10 wins in 26 games but the team never won more than two consecutive matches.

And Hasawi pointed to that lack of consistency as one of the primary reasons for O’Driscoll’s dismissal.

“We feel we have developed a really strong squad of players but are still searching for consistency in terms of team performance, underlined by the fact that we have not won more than two games in succession
in the Championship this season,” he said.

The announcement was not welcomed by one of O’Driscoll’s summer signings, however, as striker Simon Cox tweeted: “So we win 4-2 and the manager gets the sack.

“Gutted for Sean, pleasure to work under. Wonder who will walk through the door next.”

McLeish was initially installed as a 20/1 outsider for the post as Roy Keane led the betting, but the former Birmingham and Aston Villa boss has since emerged as the bookies’ favourite.