Sean Dyche slams 'keyboard warriors' and points finger after Nottingham Forest sacking

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Sean Dyche has blamed "keyboard warriors" for creating a false narrative about his time at Nottingham Forest . Dyche was sacked by Forest in mid-February, having only been appointed in October to try and steer them away from the Premier League relegation zone.

The 54-year-old was Forest's third manager of a chaotic season, after Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou, and was replaced by Vitor Pereira . Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Dyche due to concerns over relegation, with Forest sitting 17th, three points above West Ham in the drop zone.

Three weeks later and Forest are even more perilously placed, level on points with the Hammers, despite earning a creditable 2-2 draw with Manchester City on Wednesday. Dyche won 10 of his 25 matches in charge and clearly feels hard done by.

Asked about his dismissal on The Football Boardroom podcast, he replied: “Well, I don’t [understand], statistically and factually, no emotion to it, if you look at the stats and facts - even after the last game, against Wolves . Our current form at that time was ninth in the Premier League .

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“The stats and facts were there, clear as day. From my record, from when we got there to when we ended, we’d have been 12th in the Premier League. So on factual data and analysis, I can’t understand any of the decisions that were made. But football is changing, and we witnessed it.”

He added: “The bigger picture with football now is it’s like selling chocolate teapots. People come out with these stories about how ‘we’re this club’. You go: ‘No, you’re not. You’ve had one good season in 30 odd.’

“You’re trying to remind the fanbase - this is where the keyboard warriors get really powerful, by the way - of the truth of what it is rather than what you think it is. It’s very difficult now.”

Dyche felt that a section of the supporters were responsible for spreading the story that he was overworking the players on the training pitch - something he doesn't recognise as a legitimate criticism.

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“I’m scratching my head," he added. "Me and my staff were going: ‘Well, we’ve got all the data, the stats and facts.’ Lowest physical performing team in the Premier League when we took over, so what do you want me to do then? Not get them fitter? I mean, it’s just madness, right?”

It seems as though Dyche's unhappiness resides more with a minority of fans, rather than the man who ultimately made the decision to sack him, Marinakis. “I need to make this clear - this is really important to me as a football person and as a person - Mr Marinakis was nothing but good to me and straight," he said.

"His final decision is a strange one, but as a bloke, with me personally, I’ve got no gripes at all. Nor over his son, Miltos, or the powers that be, no gripes at all.”

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