Sign up NOW for the latest Reds news and views direct to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The Good Friday defeat at Sheffield United did little to ease the pressure which is growing on Martin O’Neill at Nottingham Forest, with some fans already calling for a change.

The fans have got a right to vent their frustrations, and given what they’ve paid to watch in recent weeks, I’m not surprised they’ve started to make their feelings known.

At Sheffield United on Friday, the Reds were not good, even before Yohan Benalouane’s sending off.

Yes, they were in the game before his red card, but you can’t seriously convince me that it was a great performance, especially given what had gone in the three games before.

It needed to be better.

Ultimately, it comes down to Evangelos Marinakis and what he makes of the situation.

There will be people speaking to him, chairman Nicholas Randall, Frank Clark and John McGovern, but after all is said and done, it comes down to what the man in charge wants.

(Image: Dan Westwell)

Does he feel that Martin O’Neill is the right man to take Forest into the summer and next season, or does he feel a change is necessary?

In all honesty, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he sat there and wondered if parting ways with Aitor Karanka was the right thing to do.

Will they admit to making a mistake?

While there were clearly issues behind the scenes, Forest were much closer to the play-offs at the turn of the year compared to now, and it would have been hard imagine the season crumbling in quite such a way had a change not been made.

Hindsight is wonderful, though, isn’t it?

Given the way things have gone, there’s no doubt Martin won’t be happy with how things have worked out, because it was billed as a fairytale return to the club for him, and it’s been anything but.

The owner and chairman will be hugely disappointed with the way of things, and they’re bound to be concerned moving forward, especially given the noises coming from the terraces.

(Image: Dan Westwell)

Fans are disgruntled and making their feelings known, and with the best will in the world, they can’t be ignored forever.

You do have to let the people in charge make the decisions, they're the ones that hold the pursestrings.

They wanted Martin and they got Martin – sometimes, however, you make a decision with the best intentions and then it doesn’t work out, and you have to be big enough to accept that mistake.

Every manager is under pressure to get results, though, and if you lose three or four games in this day and age, you’re always going to get criticised.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the best thing since sliced bread at Manchester United, before he lost a couple and suddenly questions start to get asked, so it’s no surprise Martin’s under it at Forest, especially when you factor in the disappointing performances.

If it was me, I’d see how the next three games play out with a view to reviewing the situation in the summer.

It’s hard to see a win coming for Forest at the moment and with Boro chasing a play-off place, I’d be surprised if they got anything from that and suddenly, its five defeats in a row and the pressure ramps up even more with more questions being asked – it’s not a healthy situation.

We’ve all seen managers lose their job for less than four defeats in a row, so should there be a fifth, there’s bound to be a discussion to be had.

(Image: Dan Westwell)

I’m still not sure Martin knows his best side, and I’d wager a bet both him and Roy Keane wouldn’t mind naming themselves in the team, because they can’t do any worse than what we’ve seen.

He’s not worried, the owner, he wants results and if he’s not getting them, I’m sorry, Martin will be gone - I can see the case for both sides – he isn’t somebody that you mess about with.

I have seen calls for a change now, with suggestions Gary Brazil could take charge on a caretaker basis, again, though for me, there’s little point in making a change with just a handful of games left.

Let’s just get through to the end of the season, and with any luck, picked up a couple of good results from somewhere and we can take stock.

One thing is for sure, it’s been a really disappointing end to the season and at this rate, the Reds will only be a few points better off than where they are a year ago, and that just isn’t good enough.