If Steve Cooper does not see out the season and Nottingham Forest are still relegated, the narrative will write itself.
‘Volatile owner Evangelos Marinakis pays price for sacking the club’s best-loved manager since Brian Clough.’ But as with most things in football, the situation is not that simple.
Imagine this scenario: Forest are relegated on goal difference. Cooper would be praised for coming so close to survival under unusual circumstances — 30 new players, for example — and would almost certainly land a Premier League job.
Forest, meanwhile, would have to handle an instant return to the Championship, probably sell Brennan Johnson and Morgan Gibbs-White, and brace themselves for a new financial reality.