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Vitor Pereira’s Nottingham Forest success has shown Newcastle there is life beyond Eddie Howe

Evan Lloyd

May 5, 2026

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Vitor Pereira won his fifth straight game as Nottingham Forest manager on Monday, bringing his side within three points of Newcastle United.

The Portuguese manager’s side beat Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, with goals from Taiwo Awoniyi and Igor Jesus cancelling out Joao Pedro’s late stunner.

Nottingham Forest may well have leapfrogged Newcastle had Eddie Howe’s team not finally ended their run of five consecutive defeats across all competitions by beating Brighton 2-1 at St James’ Park.

The Englishman is expected to continue to lead the Magpies next season, despite a hugely disappointing season.

But that decision could well change in the coming weeks, with the success of the likes of Pereira raising question marks over Newcastle’s manager.

Newcastle United must learn lessons

Football Insider exclusively revealed in April that Andoni Iraola would be open to taking the Newcastle job this summer amid his pending departure at Bournemouth.

The Spaniard has led the Cherries to sixth in the Premier League and could even achieve Champions League qualification at the Vitality Stadium – an unbelievable feat, if it happens.

Newcastle, on the other hand, have dropped eight positions in the Premier League this season, as it stands, despite having brought in several big-money players last summer.

It has been a dismal season for the Magpies, but decision-makers continue to stick behind Howe. Another team to have endured a dismal season, Nottingham Forest, have handled things very differently.

Despite last season’s success under Nuno Espirito Santo, the now-West Ham manager was ultimately dismissed after internal relationships broke down.

Nottingham Forest have since been through two managers – Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche – before eventually landing on Pereira, who has been transformative.

There are not many lessons Newcastle will want to learn from the way Evangelos Marinakis has gone about things, but the willingness to make a defining decision has undoubtedly saved the season at the City Ground.

Eddie Howe in last chance saloon

The pressure has been intensifying on Howe for some time now, and his latest reprieve appears very generous.

Newcastle decision-makers clearly back the 48-year-old to turn around the situation at St James’ Park and lead his side back to European competition next season, because failure to qualify in consecutive seasons would be hugely damaging for the future of the project.

But it surely must be last chance saloon for Howe, who could find himself out of a job if his side start the season poorly.

Iraola could well be snapped up by then, with plenty of weight resting on Newcastle’s decision.

The post Vitor Pereira’s Nottingham Forest success has shown Newcastle there is life beyond Eddie Howe appeared first on Football Insider.

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