Nottingham Forest new manager, Ange Postecoglou is under no illusions, he knows exactly why he has been brought to the City Ground: to win matches and deliver trophies.
The confident, bullish Australian gaffer even joked that he might have to claim silverware in his very first season, despite his famous line at Tottenham about “always winning trophies in the second year.”
At his first press conference at the City Ground, one word kept recurring whenever Postecoglou spoke about Forest’s owner Evangelos Marinakis: ambitious.
The Greek businessman made it clear that he wants a team that can “compete with the best and challenge for trophies.” Postecoglou insists he is ready for that challenge.
Trophies have followed him everywhere he has worked — from Melbourne to Japan, Glasgow to London — though he still feels he doesn’t always get enough credit for his record.
That drive to prove himself has only intensified since his dismissal at Spurs, the first sacking of his long career, he is determined it will be the last.
Already, Forest players who trained under him this week say they enjoyed the intensity, the detail, and the demands of their new boss.
Some fans, though, remain cautious: how will a squad drilled for counter-attacking football under former manager Nuno Espírito Santo adapt to Postecoglou’s promise of “exciting football”?
The Athens-born coach brushes off those doubts, with more than two decades of experience, he says he has “played every formation possible” and has already put in long hours on the training ground to shape his ideas.
And he has plenty of tools at his disposal; Forest invested around £165m in attacking talent this summer, adding to existing weapons such as Callum Hudson-Odoi, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Chris Wood.
If Postecoglou wants attacking football at the City Ground, he has the players to deliver it, for him, this new chapter is as much about redemption as ambition.
The Europa League triumph with Spurs in Bilbao remains a career highlight, but the criticism that followed his second season in north London clearly still fuels him.
Now, five weeks of family time and “school runs” are behind him, along with a 60th birthday celebration he jokingly compared to The Hangover — interrupted by calls from his new employers.
Whether or not he lifts a trophy by the end of his debut campaign, Postecoglou has already brought fresh energy and belief back to Nottingham.
But if he does end the club’s 35-year wait for silverware, then perhaps a sequel to that birthday party — The Hangover: Part 2 — will be well deserved on the banks of the Trent.