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Former Nottingham Forest manager lands surprise job just hours after Ange Postecoglou replaced Nuno Espirito Santo at the City Ground
Sep 09 2025 17:37 · By Matt Barlow
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On the day Nuno Espirito Santo left Nottingham Forest his predecessor Steve Cooper made his return to football at Brondby, in Denmark.
Cooper, who led Forest back to the Premier League before a brief spell in charge of East Midlands rivals Leicester, resisted interest from clubs in the Championship to take on a fresh challenge in Scandinavia.
He has been appointed to replace Frederik Birk who was sacked on Tuesday with Brondby sitting fourth in the Danish topflight and set to face rivals Copenhagen on their next outing.
Cooper, 45, has opted for a move aboard where he believes there is more chance to develop as a coach, working overseas with different demands and the expectation to win trophies.
Despite a long and proud history of success, Brondby have only been crowned Danish champions once in the last 20 years.
Opportunities have become increasingly limited for British coaches to work in Europe's top five leagues and develop the skills to appeal to elite clubs.
Former Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper has secured a surprise move to coach abroad
It comes on the day his successor Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked by Nottingham Forest
At present, there are only five. Eddie Howe, David Moyes, Graham Potter and Scott Parker in the Premier League and Liam Rosenior at Strasbourg, Chelsea's sister club, in France.
Potter, Moyes and Parker have all sampled coaching abroad. Moyes at Real Socieded and Parker at Bruges with little success. Potter's built the foundation of his career at Ostersunds in Sweden.
Cooper's coaching pathway started within the FA where he coached England's U16s and led the U17s to success at the World Cup.
He impressed as Swansea boss before taking over at Nottingham Forest in 2021.
He won promotion via the play offs in 2022 and kept them in the Premier League before he was sacked and replaced by Nuno in December 2023. Nuno lasted 629 days in the job before he was sacked to make way for Ange Postecoglou.
Cooper had five months in charge of Leicester at the start of last season but was fired in November.