Pereira: I will give body and soul in fight to avoid relegation

Nottingham Forest’s new head coach Vitor Pereira has vowed to “give body and soul” to keep the club in the Premier League, insisting his proven relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis can inspire a survival surge.

Forest, currently 17th and only three points above the drop zone, turned to the Portuguese on Thursday after a season of upheaval that has already seen three managers depart. Pereira’s immediate predecessors – Sean Dyche, Nuno Espírito Santo and Ange Postecoglou – all failed to provide the consistency Marinakis demands, prompting the Greek businessman to recall a familiar face from their trophy-laden past.

The pair previously worked together at Olympiakos, clinching a league and cup double in 2015, and Pereira believes that shared history will be crucial in the relegation run-in.

“He’s ambitious. He wants to win, he’s emotional and I know him very well,” Pereira said at his introductory press conference. “The conversations were about our time in Olympiakos. I remember the energy and the fire we created. He trusts my work, I trust his personality because in football we need passion too.”

That passion, according to Pereira, is exactly what Nottingham Forest require in the final months of the campaign. “I came with the intention to give everything of myself, to give my body and soul to this club to help the club and together we can do it,” he declared. “This is the pressure that means football is beautiful. We are better under pressure. I need the pressure to be at my best level.”

Despite the turmoil of multiple managerial changes, the 55-year-old is convinced the squad has the quality to stay up. “I believe the reason why I accept this job is that I believe in the quality of the players, because I believe in the potential of this club, the ambition of the president,” he explained. “Of course, I believe that it’s possible to stay up. I believe that we can get points, results and quality in the games.”

Pereira’s first test comes in the Europa League knockout play-off on Thursday, followed quickly by a daunting Premier League encounter with Liverpool at the City Ground on Sunday, live on Sky Sports. He is under no illusions about the margin for error in England’s top flight. “I learned this is a league in which we cannot make mistakes,” he warned. “The league will punish the teams and the clubs that make mistakes. In a second you can lose and in a second you can win.”

The Portuguese, who guided Wolves to safety last season with a 17-point cushion, also endeared himself to supporters in the West Midlands by celebrating victories among them – famously declaring “First the points, then the pints” after a crucial win over Bournemouth. When asked whether a similar tradition could emerge in the East Midlands, Pereira smiled: “This is something about my personality. I’m not an actor, I’m a simple guy, an honest guy, confident and when I feel I deserve the pints – of course!”

For now, however, the focus is purely on points. With survival at stake, Pereira’s message to fans is clear: every ounce of his experience, energy and emotion will be poured into preserving Nottingham Forest’s Premier League status.