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Mark Clattenburg has worked for Nottingham Forest before and his claim that Sean Dyche would be sacked by the Reds became a reality in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Clattenburg’s appointment at Forest caused quite a stir during the 2022/23 campaign. The Reds became the first English club to appoint a Referee Analyst and he worked in the role for around a year.

Give us your ONE word verdict on Vitor Pereira joining Nottingham Forest as the new head coach

Evangelos Marinakis and Clattenburg have a strong relationship and with Forest getting some pretty abject refereeing calls against them, the owner decided to appoint the former FIFA referee.

Following Dyche being sacked by Forest, Clattenburg was quizzed about the decision and he admitted that the prediction he made during the draw against Wolves actually proved to be correct.

What Mark Clattenburg predicted as Sean Dyche sacked by Forest

Clattenburg filmed his latest episode of the Daily Mail podcast called Whistle Blowers before the Reds played the Wolves and his prediction came true.

He sensed that Marinakis was starting to potentially get the urge to sack another manager, believing that Dyche was doomed ahead of the contest.

He said: “Sean Dyche will think he’s improved Forest because they were in the bottom three when he took over at the club.

“The problem you’ve got, especially when you’ve got an owner like Marinakis, is that from my experience working with the club, he will press the button when he feels like his investment is at risk, and you saw with Steve Cooper, there was a risk, and he pulled the plug, Nuno was also at risk in his first season.

“He panicked that his team could get relegated and he will be in that moment where he’s thinking, if the result isn’t going Forest’s way, you will see Marinakis leave his seat, down to his boardroom and make that decision just like he did with Ange Postecoglou.

“Marinakis is very impulsive, he’s strong, he informed Postecoglou in the tunnel when he was sacked and he won’t wait.”

Having worked for “Mr Marinakis” at Forest, Mark has a unique insight into how he works. Mark even correctly predicted Sean Dyche would get sacked that night if the Wolves game didn’t go well…🔮 pic.twitter.com/yCAU4ONlAo

— Daily Mail Sport (@MailSport) February 12, 2026

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Dyche will have serious Forest regrets

When the dust settles for Dyche, he will look back on his time at Forest with bitter disappointment after some seriously bad performances.

This was Dyche’s chance to prove that he could adapt to modern-day football with the best squad he’s ever managed and in reality, his positive days were all too infrequent.

Drab performances against Everton twice, Fulham, Leeds, Braga and Sturm Graz were pretty pathetic and it’s no surprise that the players lost faith in the manager.

The amount of money Nottingham Forest have paid out to managers

This is just ridiculous, should we have persisted with Dyche?

Clattenburg’s prediction offers sympathy to Marinakis, and he’s spot on, with the owner having every right to demand more from a manager incapable of getting a tune out of a multi-million-pound squad.

Now, the baton has been handed to Vitor Pereira and he will hope to get Forest moving in the right direction pretty quickly to pull clear from the relegation zone.

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