Chris Sutton admits he is ‘underwhelmed’ by Nottingham Forest’s appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo on Mail Sport’s It’s All Kicking Off, while Ian Ladyman questions ‘which version’ of the Portuguese boss they’ll get

The appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo as the new boss of Nottingham Forests has left Chris Sutton feeling 'disappointed' after the Premier League strugglers parted ways with Steve Cooper.

The Welshman was sacked as Forest manager earlier this week after winning just once in his last 13 games, ending his two-year spell at the City Ground after taking the club to the top flight.

Espirito Santo arrives with plenty of Premier League experience, having led Wolves to the top flight and consecutive seventh-place finishes before being sacked.

He would subsequently take charge of Tottenham in an ultimately ill-fated tenure that lasted less than four months, culminating in a run of five defeats from seven.

As such, Sutton has revealed that he was not exactly inspired by the call to replace a club icon like Cooper with Espirito Santo, although he insisted that all managers deserve at least a chance to prove any doubters wrong.

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'If I was a Nottingham Forest supporter when I heard about the appointment at this time, and I may be wrong because every manager deserves a chance, I would be so disappointed by the choice of Nuno taking over from Steve Cooper', Sutton was sad.

'You can argue at Tottenham that he got a difficult deal because he didn't get long enough. But I think the perception of Nuno is that he is quite a negative manager in the way he puts teams together.

'I wouldn't be too excited about this appointment, and if I were a Nottingham Forest fan I wouldn't be so sure he's the man to take Nottingham Forest to the next level. I would say that every manager deserves a chance to show what he can do, but I'm sceptical.'

The Portuguese manager arrives after recently leaving Saudi Pro League team Al-Ittihad, where he managed the likes of Karim Benzema, Fabinho and N'Golo Kante.

He was sacked earlier this year after a string of poor results – including a 2-0 defeat to Iraqi side Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya in the Asian Champions League – despite having already won a first league title in 14 years last season.

However, since being named Tricky Trees' new manager, he has already commented on the size of the team he has inherited.

Forest have made many signings in recent times as Evangelos Marinakis looked to build a side capable of breaking into the top half.

'I remember sitting with Nuno a few years ago when he was at Wolves, he was fascinating. But then it was almost like a fire went out. By the time he arrived at Tottenham, and I know this from people I know very well at Tottenham, he was a different person.

'He was quite non-communicative. He seemed flat. He had no energy. It was almost as if he had gone to Tottenham too quickly after being sacked by Wolves and as if perhaps he hadn't had that time to recharge because they couldn't believe the character, not just the fact that he didn't win. games.

'He didn't inspire anyone, he didn't give anyone confidence and people were stunned at the time because that wasn't the man they'd interviewed, it wasn't the man they'd seen at Wolves, it wasn't the man they had good references for. – it was almost as if he was now a shadow of himself.

'He looked like someone. He had fallen out of the beautiful football. Then he went to Saudi Arabia and now he has come to Forest, so let's wait and see which version of Nuno Nottingham Forest get. They really need the Wolves version because if they get the Tottenham version they will probably be relegated.”

Espirito Santo will get the chance to start his tenure with a win at home to Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth on Saturday.