Twenty minutes after a chorus of boos met the full-time whistle of Forest's 3-0 home loss to Chelsea, the club wielded the axe on the Australian – the first Forest boss to go winless in his opening eight games in charge.

"Nottingham Forest Football Club can confirm that after a series of disappointing results and performances, Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties as head coach with immediate effect," a statement read.

The post had gone viral before Postecoglou could even ready himself for post-match media duties, which the Australian never had the opportunity to fulfil.

He gave a grimace at the full-time whistle and the 60-year-old cut a lone figure near the centre circle as he quietly applauded the handful of loyal Forest fans who had stayed behind after a mass exodus after Chelsea's third goal.

Postecoglou had inherited a side that had worked wonders under Nuno Espirito Santo and was reshaped by a £200 million ($413.2 million) close-season splurge to reinforce the squad as it competed on a new front in the UEFA Europa League.

But after Portuguese coach Nuno was sacked last month, Postecoglou never got the team going again, kicking off the new era with a 3-0 loss at Arsenal before Forest was knocked out of the Carabao Cup away to second-tier Swansea City.

The winless run continued when it failed to beat promoted sides Burnley and Sunderland while even Danish team Midtjylland beat it in the UEFA Europa League.

Dreams of playing in Europe turned into nightmares but the writing had been on the wall for weeks in the Premier League as Forest dropped like a stone from fifth to 17th.

When the pressure mounted, Postecoglou proudly pointed to his record at his previous clubs where he always won a trophy in his second season – including Celtic and his last stint at Tottenham Hotspur, which sacked him at the end of last season.

He had guided the London club to the UEFA Europa League title and UEFA Champions League qualification, but it came at the expense of its Premier League form as it finished a lowly 17th.

That is where Forest now sits, only with results this weekend raising the prospect of the team sinking into the relegation zone as it hunts for a third manager this term.

Prior to kick-off, Postecoglou was all smiles when he spoke for the last time as Forest boss.

"Whatever I say is irrelevant. No one wants to win more than me," he said. "I'm certainly not happy we haven't won so far, but it hasn't been for the want of trying and we have been in games we should have won."

Postecoglou made wholesale changes to the side that lost to Newcastle United before the international break, leaving several new signings brought in for a combined £130 million ($268.6 million) on the bench – a decision that may have ultimately cost him his job.

In an extraordinary pre-match rant, Postecoglou had rejected the narrative that he is a "failed manager".

"Maybe I'm a manager that if you give me time, the story ends the same – at all my previous clubs – with a trophy," he said at the end of a long-winded answer to his critics.

However, Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis showed he is not the patient type and Postecoglou has gone 24 hours later.