Pereira pumped up for Forest’s latest era

The fourth manager of the club’s Europa League run wants a winning start back on familiar ground in Turkey

- Ben Fisher

As Vitor Pereira wrapped up his pre-match media duties at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium yesterday evening, his assistant Luis Miguel Moreira da Silva waited at the mouth of the tunnel. “Let’s go?” he said as Pereira eventually emerged, before the Nottingham Forest squad followed the pair on to the pitch.

Then it was down to business, Pereira’s first assignment in charge of Forest at one of his 13 former clubs, Fenerbahce. For Pereira, the Kadikoy district of Istanbul represents familiar territory, having lived in the city across two enjoyable but trophyless spells here as a manager, most recently in 2021. Pereira knows the difficulty of the challenge in Turkey and the players have been well versed by their fourth head coach of the season about the febrile atmosphere that will greet them today in their Europa League playoff first leg.