Seeing Nottingham Forest fall apart against Leicester City will have brought back painful memories of Chris Hughton's last game in charge against Middlesbrough.
A similarly desperate performance to a year ago leaves the Reds bottom of the Premier League rather than the Championship after five straight defeats with each more depressing than the last. Beyond the leagues, there are differences between the final days of Hughton and what could be the final days of Cooper though, as all eyes turn to owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Forest felt broken as a club under Hughton. They do look pretty broken as a team right now under Cooper, but the support for him is there and belief remains among the fanbase that he is still the man to turn it around, as demonstrated by fans chanting his name with the game long gone last night.
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The atmosphere when Hughton left was toxic. There was no bond between players and supporters. The steady flow of new managers had been akin to moving the deck chairs on the Titanic time and again.
Cooper changed everything and now everything has changed again. The team which took Forest to promotion is gone. Only Joe Worrall, Scott McKenna, Steve Cook, Ryan Yates and Brennan Johnson remain as first team players.
It wasn't inevitable that it would end up this way after 22 new signings, but it was always a real possibility with no shared experience in the group of how to cope when the chips are down, as they very much are now.
Signings had to happen for reasons discussed a thousand times, but Forest are playing into the narrative around the transfers, that it's Football Manager brought to life with the performances in the last three games. As Cooper said himself after the game last night, they don't look like a team. Why should they?
Cooper is not blameless, but he has been dealt a hell of hand with so many new faces. His team selection last night was confusing with a real lack of mobility in the centre of the pitch bar Lewis O'Brien. Reverting to a back four was welcome if it strengthened midfield to stop them being overrun but that did not happen.
Both starting full-backs had bad nights and there is an ever increasing feeling that Jesse Lingard, Brennan Johnson and Morgan Gibbs-White are difficult to shoehorn into the same team.
If Forest do sack Cooper they will once again be hoping that one man solves a litany of problems - just as he did a year ago. Rafa Benitez has been touted but the immediate reaction to his potential arrival has been negative among the fanbase it would seem.
Benitez ball would probably be dour, but he would get Forest organised, as would Sean Dyche, who is also looking to get back into the Premier League. If change comes that loving feeling of excitement about a club on a long-term upward trajectory with a shared vision would be gone for many. Cooper has built a bond with the football club that means fans will want him to get the chance to steady the ship.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers is now looking like a case in point as to why owners should hold their nerve, given how well they played having looked pretty awful themselves at the start of the season. Unlike Leeds and Brentford, Forest's promotion was built on quicksand in terms of being Premier League ready as a team.
A huge amount of money has been pumped in by Marinakis to try and mitigate that - perhaps too much anything with the final wave of signings late in the window looking a little panicked right now. Money does not guarantee success though.
Nothing guarantees success. Cooper's detractors - as well as the owner - can make a reasoned argument for change, but stability has to be a process not a given. Cooper must now hope he gets the time to see his vision through. It will be a sad day if he does not.
Should Forest stick with Cooper? Have your say in the comments section below
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