'If I'm not winning, the fans will come at me'

Sean Dyche may take special pride in his return to Forest, but he has no illusions as to the scale of the task at hand

- Ben Fisher

This badge is bigger than any manager," Sean Dyche said at his unveiling as Nottingham Forest's head coach, before correcting himself.

"Well, there was one manager who was probably as big as the badge - we all know who that was." Then came an impression of Brian Clough.

""Young ginger, well done," he said, reliving his three years as a trainee at the City Ground, the days he spent wandering down the Trent, with Del Boy, Clough's labrador, whizzing past him and his manager's voice invariably within earshot.

For Dyche, this moment has been a long time in the making. He lives in the city and has a fondness for the club. In recent years he and his longstanding assistant Ian Woan, who was part of the Forest side the last time they were in Europe, in 1995-96, have sometimes popped into the West Bridgford cafe where Forest legends such as Frank Clark, Colin Barrett and Garry Birtles meet every Thursday to talk old and new tales. He will have to give it a miss this week to prepare for the visit of Porto, unbeaten this season, in the Europa League this evening.