Nottingham Forest confirm Sean Dyche appointment: Who are the winners and losers of his appointment?

Nottingham Forest have confirmed that they have appointed Sean Dyche as their new head coach on a contract until the end of 2026-27.

The former Burnley and Everton - who lives in the area - has been named as the successor to Ange Postecoglou, who lasted just eight games in the role and was sacked after the defeat to Chelsea on Saturday.

While there will generally be a warm welcome for the 54-year-old who represented the club in his youth days, there will be an acceptance that he needs to hit the ground running to keep Forest in the Premier League and go deep in the Europa League.

Dyche's reign kicks off with a home fixture against Porto in the latter competition on Thursday evening, Forest in need of points after only accumulating one from contests with Real Betis and FC Midtjylland.

Despite the short turnaround, there will inevitably be changes made to the starting lineup through Dyche deploying a style of play far more similar to Nuno Espirito Santo than Postecoglou.

Here, Sports Mole takes a look at the potential winners and losers from Dyche's arrival at the City Ground.

Chris Wood

Although Chris Wood has started seven of Forest's eight Premier League fixtures, he has been left out of both Europa League XIs and the team for the Chelsea defeat the weekend.

The 33-year-old also has no non-penalty goals to his name since the opening weekend of the season, but there is every expectation that the New Zealand international will become one of Dyche's trusted aides.

During their time together at Burnley, Wood contributed 53 goals and 11 assists from 165 appearances, the target man reaching double figures in the Premier League on four occasions.

Wood turns 34 in December and may have lost a yard of pace since his days at Turf Moor but, providing that he is fully fit after picking up a minor knock on international duty earlier this month, he will be back in the first XI for the Porto game.

Subsequently, that will have a negative impact on the likes of Igor Jesus, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Taiwo Awoniyi. Although Jesus has scored four times from 109 minutes in cup fixtures against Real Betis and Swansea City, he is yet to start a Premier League fixture, and Dyche may make use of his versatility as the season progresses rather than view him as ahead of Wood in the pecking order.

James McAtee

With just two starts and three substitute outings to his name since signing from Manchester City, there will be a perception that James McAtee can only benefit from Dyche replacing Postecoglou.

However, with Dyche generally using a 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1 or defensive-minded 4-2-3-1 formation at his previous clubs, McAtee may continue to cut a frustrated figure on the substitutes' bench or in the stands.

Morgan Gibbs-White is one of the first names on the teamsheet and it will take the club's vice-captain being moved from the number 10 role to the right flank for McAtee to come into contention.

That switch is not against the realms of possibility, though. Dyche was a big admirer of Dwight McNeil's work-rate and attacking qualities from the flank during his time at Turf Moor and Goodison Park, and Gibbs-White seemingly most fits the bill on that front at Forest.

Gibbs-White is also yet to score in 11 appearances this campaign and it may be deemed more productive to move him out of a central area, at least in the short term, to bring other players back into the fold.

Morato

Through necessity more than anything else, Morato has made eight starts in all competitions during 2025-26. By comparison, he racked up the same amount of starts through the entirety of the last campaign.

The 24-year-old has benefitted from injuries or a switch to a back three, but Dyche's historical reliance on a back four is likely to dictate that the Brazilian is the defender to drop out.

Forest fans will not necessarily view it as a bad move, however, with their team not winning a Premier League game with Morato in the starting lineup since they thrashed Brighton & Hove Albion by a 7-0 scoreline on February 1.