Former Nottingham Forest defender Matt Mills has defended Chris Hughton and suggested that he is a ‘great manager’, but also hinted that the club’s ownership could make life challenging for him.

Hughton has been tasked with turning around the Reds’ fortunes this campaign after taking over from Sabri Lamouchi, but he has so far been unable to improve Forest’s consistency having managed to claim just three wins from his opening 11 Championship matches in charge of the club.

That has seen some pressure start to mount on the former Brighton boss, but he has the experience of turning things around and getting teams challenging at the right end of the division. Hughton will be hoping that he can get the backing of the owners in January to improve the squad in key areas and help him improve results.

Quiz: Which club did Nottingham Forest sign each of these 25 players from?

 

Mills in a Q&A on his personal Instagram, defended the Nottingham Forest manager and suggested that he is a ‘great manager’ that should be able to turn things around at the City Ground. However, he also believes the club’s owners could prove to be a problem for Hughton and that they will make his life a ‘misery.’

The verdict

Mills is fully aware of the nature of the ownership of the Reds having spent three years at the City Ground between 2015 and 2018. He will, therefore, know full well how unstable the club can be at times when things are not going the right way in terms of results on the field.

Seeing through the whole of last season was an achievement in itself for Lamouchi, and that speaks volumes over the instability there has been in terms of managers at Forest in recent times. That means that Hughton will not have long to turn things around before he comes under intense scrutiny.

Hughton, as Mills suggests, has the pedigree to turn things around but it could prove to be that the structure of the club works against the former Brighton manager. However, having worked with the much-maligned Mike Ashley at Newcastle United he will also have experience of how to navigate those issues and still achieve success on the field.