Martin O'Neill will receive a £500,000 pay-off, after he was sacked as manager of Nottingham Forest on Friday, according to the Belfast Telegraph.

Nottingham Forest released a statement on Friday afternoon confirming that O'Neill had lost his job as manager, just five months after he took charge at the City Ground.

This was followed almost immediately by the announcement of French-born coach Sabri Lamouchi as O'Neill's successor.

O'Neill replaced Aitor Karanka in charge at the City Ground earlier this year, but he was unable to guide the Reds to promotion to from the Championship.

Forest were four points outside the play-off places when O'Neill took charge in January, but he failed to guide them to a top-six finish.

The decision to sack O'Neill came just days after his assistant manager Roy Keane decided to leave the club and it has been reported that the players had turned on their manager.

O'Neill had 12 months remaining on his contract at the City Ground and is set to receive a severance package of around £500,000.

The Verdict

O'Neill had 12 months remaining on his contract at Nottingham Forest, so this isn't that surprising.

I must admit, I was totally shocked at the news that Forest had decided to sack O'Neill, so close to the start of the new season.

I'm not sure it's the right decision for Forest to sack O'Neill and although I think it was the right decision for them to appoint a new head coach as quickly as possible, I'm not convinced that Lamouchi is the right man for the job.

It will be interesting to see where O'Neill goes from here and how long it is before he takes up another job in management.