Further details have emerged surrounding the sacking of Martin O'Neill by Nottingham Forest, reports Paul Taylor of the Nottingham Post during a live web chat (03/07, 12:47).

Taylor revealed that reports of a player mutiny against the Irishman had been greatly exaggerated but admitted some senior names had a role to play.

"There was no conspiracy to hound the manager out. No planning or malice went into this," he wrote.

"Several senior members of the squad were asked for their views on the situation; they were asked what their opinion was on the manager at the time - and they shared those opinions.

"They were just honest about their views on the regime and how things were going - they voiced a few concerns and this helped to shape the decision made by the hierarchy."

O'Neill only took over the Forest job in January after Aitor Karanka had walked away following a fall out with the board.

The club were well adrift of the promotion race and although the former Aston Villa and Republic of Ireland boss managed to ignite a slight resurgence, he still could not get them into the top-six.

Last week saw him relieved of his duties and immediately replaced by former Rennes manager Sabri Lamouchi.

The verdict

As far as this relieves the players of any real blame in the matter, I still think it reflects poorly on the club.

O'Neill was never a good fit for where Forest wanted to be, in my opinion, so sacking him was not necessarily the wrong move but the manner in which they did it could have been better - especially for a club legend.

But it shows the power that players have in the modern game, regardless of whether they downed tools or not.