BBC Radio Nottingham stalwart Colin Fray has claimed that Diego Maradona wanted to manage Nottingham Forest.
The legendary broadcaster said prior to yesterday’s 1-0 home defeat to Swansea that the Argentine legend held a desire to take the City Ground hot seat.
Maradona sadly passed away during last week at the age of 60. He departs as one of the finest players to ever play the game of football.
The iconic figure led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 and was also named second in L’Equipe’s countdown of the top 50 South American footballers in history.
Fray’s claim is interesting to say the least, admitting that it was a possibility at one stage.
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He told BBC Radio Nottingham: “I have it on very good authority that in 2012 shortly after Fawaz Al-Hasawi had taken over the club, Diego Maradona through his agent asked if he could come and manage Forest.
“He wanted to come and manage Nottingham Forest.
“They’d just dispensed of Steve Cotterill and were looking for a new manager.
“Forest were approached by Diego Maradona’s agent to see if there was any possibility of him becoming manager here.
“It was never anywhere near actually happening but there was interest from him in managing the team.”
Forest opted for safer option
Despite interest from the Argentine trickster, Sean O’Driscoll was the man tasked with reviving the club’s fortunes.
The respected coach had Forest on the brink of a play-off place before he was sacked after a 4-2 win over Leeds United on Boxing Day.
Maradona managed the Argentina national team and spent some time with clubs in his homeland, United Arab Emirates and in Mexico.
His arrival at the City Ground would have certainly attracted vast media attention from across the world.
The former star previously said during an interview with FourFourTwo that he’d like to manage in England one day.
Sadly he never got to do that but it’s likely his representatives will have sounded him out to plenty of clubs.
Maradona and Fawaz could have been an entertaining double act to say the very least.