Nottingham Forest 'face obscurity' – can Nigel Clough save them?

Nigel Clough is being tipped to become manager of Nottingham Forest after the club sacked Dougie Freedman on Sunday, following a run of five defeats in six matches to see the team lying 14th in the Championship.

In charge at the City Ground for 13 months, Freedman is the sixth manager to be sacked by owner Fawaz al-Hasawi since he took over the club in July 2012.

Forest are now seeking their tenth manager in five years, says The Times, and Freedman's successor will "be taking over a club that has not had a manager complete a season since 2010-11".

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Clough, the son of legendary boss Brian, played for Forest in the 1980s and 1990s and is the favourite for the job.

"Now with Burton Albion, it is believed that the son of the club's most famous manager would find it hard to turn down an offer," says The Times.

But it is not the first time Forests's fans have pinned their hopes on a former favourite. Stuart Pearce also tried, and failed, to bring the good times back to Nottingham in recent years. He was fired in February last year, after a reign that lasted only seven months.

The club's woes come at a time when local rivals Leicester City are attempting to pull off what would be the biggest shock in football since Forest won the first division title in 1978 and went on to conquer Europe.

"Until this season, the greatest achievement in the history of the English game was widely credited to Forest," says Martin Samuel of the Daily Mail. "In terms of a journey, from obscurity to the summit, there has been nothing quite like Forest. Until Leicester."

And the Foxes' achievements are pushing the once-mighty Forest "further towards obscurity".

The former European champions escaped a winding-up order at the High Court on Monday after paying an outstanding tax bill, but were ordered to pay costs.

"Forest is a proud club with a proud history and there will be numerous CVs landing on the City Ground doormat. But it is no longer the enticing job it once was," says the Nottingham Post. "Stability is a long absent quality at the City Ground."