Nottingham Forest have made a strong start to the 2024/25 campaign with Evangelos Marinakis backing the club with some sound recruitment.
It hasn’t always been this way in the Premier League. Forest have drawn some criticism for their recruitment in the past but things have now changed.
Marinakis has reverted to type a little bit, re-appointing George Syrianos and the recruitment this summer was meticulous and a lot less chaotic.
Despite Marinakis overseeing an astonishing rise to the Premier League from the Championship doldrums, there is a small minority of fans who love to dislike him.
It makes very little sense given what he’s done at the City Ground and now a former Premier League owner believes he deserves his flowers.
Simon Jordan delivers verdict on Evangelos Marinakis
Jordan ran Crystal Palace between 2000 and 2010 and he enjoyed some good time overseeing boardroom matters at the club he calls his own.
As a result, the current TalkSPORT pundit knows all about the fickle nature of the job behind the scenes.
Marinakis does get a bit of a raw deal from Forest supporters sometimes and hopefully, the relationship can improve with his critics over time.
Given that the Reds are now embarking on a third successive season in the Premier League, it’s hard to imagine what would need to happen for his critics to finally come round to his way of thinking.
Jordan thinks any critique is a bit of a joke and has thrown his weight behind Marinakis for the work he’s doing at Forest.
He told TalkSPORT: “The history of Nottingham Forest is there for all to see. If you go into their boardroom they have these cabinets from years past with all the various replicas of all the trophies they’ve won. They were a remarkable club at that time that had this remarkable team that achieved remarkable things.
“Marinakis has done remarkable things for Nottingham Forest which is why it’s perplexed me that there was this criticism because he was buying players left, right and centre and there was this wall of observation about what he did when the club first got promoted.
“Do I think he should have said the things he said to you after the play-off final? No possibly not because it’s going to be very difficult to back that up, certainly under the set of governance you’ve got now.
“He’s taken Forest – Nigel Doughty was a good friend of mine, he was held in good regard and he couldn’t take Forest where they wanted to go – they’ve been out of the Premier League for 23 years! That’s how long Forest have been away, so, Marinakis, like Steve Cooper should be held in affection.
“An owner very really gets it but he’s the one who dragged this football club out of a quarter of a century of doldrums, put them in the Premier League, given them the money to be able to punch their weight and is very ambitious.
“So, when fans start to complain about something he may do, whatever it is, they might want to remember what this man has done and what his money has bought for the football club.
“This man is trying to drive the remembrance of the football club back to where it once sat in the footballing world.”
Marinakis craves European football at Forest
The club’s owner is a perfectionist. He’s shown during the club’s time back in the Premier League that he’s not in the division to mess around and make up the numbers.
He’s showcased ambition to kick on every year with a number of signings coming to the club in the three years since reaching the promised land.
Marinakis’ desire to get Forest back into European competition will have been ignited by last year’s success for Olympiacos in the Europa Conference League.
He will now want Forest to experience those things and who can knock him for that?
Forest fans are indebted to Marinakis and it’s about time that his critics silenced and let him continue the good work he’s already done.
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