Nottingham Forest have appointed Sabri Lamouchi as their new head coach, immediately after sacking Martin O'Neill.

Forest announced their decision to sack O'Neill, just five months after he took charge at the City Ground, and have wasted no time at all in appointing his successor.

O'Neill replaced Aitor Karanka in charge at the City Ground in January, but was unable to guide the club to promotion from the Championship, as they finished ninth in the table, eight points outside the play-off places.

Lamouchi was last in charge of Ligue 1 side Rennes and has also managed the Ivory Coast national team in his career, but he has no experience as a manager in English football.

A number of the Forest players had reportedly turned against O'Neill and his departure from the City Ground comes just days after his assistant manager Roy Keane left the club.

Forest have also confirmed that Lamouchi will bring in six new coaching staff who will assist him.

Lamouchi, 47, will take charge of his first game as Forest manager when the Reds face West Bromwich Albion at the City Ground on the opening day of the Championship season.

The Verdict

I'm totally stunned by this.

It's a huge call for Nottingham Forest to sack O'Neill so close to the start of the new season.

It's probably a smart decision for Forest to appoint a replacement as soon as possible, to give him as much time as possible to work with the players before the start of the new season, although I'm not sure that Lamouchi is the right appointment for them.

The 47-year-old doesn't have any experience of managing in England, so his appointment has got to be considered a huge risk.