NOTTINGHAM FOREST skipper Morgan Gibbs-White appeared to aim a sly dig at axed boss Ange Postecoglou on Thursday night.
Postecoglou was sacked on Saturday after overseeing eight winless games in a disastrous 39-day tenure.
That streak was broken by Sean Dyche in his first match at the helm – a 2-0 win over Porto in the Europa League.
And Gibbs-White, who along with Igor Jesus netted a penalty in the victory, says morale is “a lot higher” after a “difficult couple of months”.
The 25-year-old told TNT Sports: “I feel like I can finally breathe.
“It’s been a difficult couple of months here with all the change that’s happened, the bad performances.
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“There’s no one here that deserves that win more than the fans. Those three points were for them for sticking by us.”
Asked if it felt like Forest had finally got their identity back, Gibbs-White added: “Yeah. That was the first thing the gaffer came in and said to us.
“He told us that last season we had a real identity and structure to how we want to play and he wants to bring that back. He wants to build on that.
“We’ve only had a few training sessions but you can feel that the morale in the stadium and in the group feels a lot higher.
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“It feels a lot more positive and it needs to stay like that. That’s a credit to the manager that’s come in.”
Forest are off the mark in the Europa League and Dyche must now set about propelling them out of the Premier League relegation zone.
Gibbs-White hinted at discontent around Big Ange’s leadership but Forest legend Roy Keane reckons the players were also at fault for the torrid run of results.
Wastefulness in front of goal was one of the themes of Postecoglou’s brief spell in charge.
And after the 3-0 loss to Chelsea which saw the ex-Tottenham boss dismissed, Keane said on Stick to Football: “Did they really want to score? Did they want to keep him in the job? I’m on about good players not even hitting the target.
“Then the manager loses his job, you look at these Forest players, and they’re like, ‘Oh well, another manager has gone, a new one comes in’, you know. Idiots, honestly.”
