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Forest owner and manager fall out

Nuno Espírito Santo has said that his relationship with mercurial Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has broken down, claiming that there is division among those at the club. The Portuguese head coach, who signed a three-year contract extension this summer, confirmed that he was no longer speaking regularly with Marinakis and suggested that there was now an absence of trust between them.

Nuno, whose Forest side face Crystal Palace on Sunday, said he was not entirely sure why his relationship with Marinakis had changed but his public complaints last week that his squad was not deep enough are unlikely to have impressed the Greek businessman, who has since spent close to £100million on four new players.

“I always had a very good relationship with the owner, last season was very, very, very close, almost on a daily basis,” Nuno said. “This season, not so well, but I always believe that dialogue and what you say or your opinion, is always valid, because my concern is the squad and the season that we have ahead of us, but our relationship has changed.   I think everybody at the club should be together but this is not the reality.”

Nuno last season guided Forest to a seventh-place finish that ensured a return to European competition for the first time in 30 years. However, Forest won only one of their final five league games so missed out on Champions League qualification. After one of those games — a 2-2 draw with Leicester — Marinakis stormed onto the pitch and furiously remonstrated with Nuno. Forest later said that the owner was angry with club’s failure to substitute striker Taiwo Awoniyi, who went on to have abdominal surgery and was placed in an induced coma having collided with a post.

On the eve of the new campaign, Nuno fumed that every part of his team aside from the centre of defence needed bolstering in the transfer window.  Nuno was adamant that his complaints eight days ago were made in a polite manner.

“What I said last week or two weeks ago was my concern and why I was worried about where we were going,” he told The Times.  “What I said, I said it with respect. The reality is that the relationship is not what it used to be. It was a respectful relationship based on trust and sharing opinions but now it is not so good.”

 

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