Sean Dyche says any visits he has made to watch Nottingham Forest this season have not been with a view to “scoping out” potential work.
The 51-year-old had been out of management since being sacked by Burnley in April. He was linked with the Reds job when Steve Cooper was at risk of the axe following the 4-0 thumping at Leicester City earlier this month.
Dyche, who came up through the ranks at Forest as a youth player, has been seen at the City Ground. But he says he only goes to matches with the intent of simply watching a game.
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On filling his time in recent months, Dyche told The Athletic Football Podcast: “I popped down to local clubs like Forest. But not in a way that I was scoping anything out.
“I’ve been seeing friends, going to gigs, doing stuff that I like doing, a bit of golf, a few charity bits, a few podcasts. Probably the last month, I’ve started viewing it differently again, getting back, making sure I’m up to date with Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2, of course. Generally keeping more of a view of it and keeping an eye on what’s going on in the marketplace.”
He added: “Over the last month it’s been a nightmare for me geographically. When I was at Watford I was under pressure after about 13 games and it was on the verge of ‘Dyche out’ kind of stuff’. I remember there was one game where there was 11 managers there, and nine were out of work. I remember thinking, ‘right, note to self, that’s not for me’. Some people will tell me I’m naive or that’s the law of the jungle, but you’ve got to have your own values.
“When I came out of Watford, I only went to teams in my location or where I knew people. I knew Jon Rudkin at Leicester, I had links with Forest, and MK Dons were just down the road when I was living in Northampton.
“The killer for me now… the family have relocated to Nottingham. I can’t really go down to Nottingham Forest, because the cameras zoom in and they presuppose you are there for an ulterior motive, not just to watch a game.
“I can’t go to Leicester, until recently when they’d won a few games. I couldn’t go to Wolves for the same reason, couldn’t go to Villa for the same reason, couldn’t go to Leeds for the same reason. And they are all within an hour or an hour and 20 minutes. You kind of go, ‘okay, where am I travelling to then, to just watch a game?’.
“Whether it’s my face or my voice, I don’t blend well. So it does get tricky when your values are saying, ‘don’t be that guy who sits in the stand watching a manager under pressure’. But you’re not actually there to do that.
“I live in Nottingham. I’m actually there to just watch the game. But of course, I don’t do it, because I think it looks wrong and it’s not what I consider my own values to be.”
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