Nottingham Forest have sacked manager Chris Hughton with the Championship club bottom of the league with just one point from their first seven games.
The club’s decision to part ways with Hughton will have a direct impact on Manchester United loanee James Garner, who returned to the City Ground this summer after spending the second half of last season playing under Hughton.
Garner started Hughton’s final game, which was a 2-0 home defeat against Neil Warnock’s Middlesborough, but was replaced after 67 minutes.
How will James Garner fare at Nottingham Forest now?
After making his Young Lions debut during the international break, Garner would have hoped he could help turn the tide at Forest and ease the pressure on a manager that had shown great faith in him.
Hughton was instrumental in bringing Garner in to Forest in the first place and helped secure his loan return this summer.
Following the departure of Hughton, Garner will now be waiting anxiously to see who takes over and whether he features in the new manager’s plans.
However, this isn’t something that the 20-year-old is experiencing for the first time in his young career. Last year during his loan spell at Watford, the midfielder featured regularly under the stewardship of Vladimir Ivic.
From November to Ivic’s last game in late December, Garner started eight out of ten Championship games for the Hornets.
But when the Serbian was sacked and replaced by Xisco Munoz, Garner didn’t come off the bench in any of the three games he was named as a substitute under the Spaniard.
Big test for the youngster
With his good mates Tahith Chong, Ethan Laird and Di’Shon Bernard all featuring regularly in the Championship, Garner isn’t going to want to spend a year of playing time and vital development from the sidelines.
If the new Forest manager comes in and doesn’t see Garner in his plans, then United will have to find a new loan move for the midfielder in the New Year.
But Garner will be hoping the managerial change he experienced last year is different this time around. The club’s form cannot get worse.
It could well be that the new manager sees Garner as a vital part of his plans and wants to build the team around him.
However, Garner’s initial focus should be impressing interim head coach Steven Reid in training and starting Saturday’s clash against Huddersfield Town.
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