Evangelos Marinakis has made one key change to Nottingham Forest’s training ground

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Nottingham Forest are a club making progress, not only on the pitch but off it too.

While an excellent start of the season has followed on from an impressive summer – the arrivals of James Ward-Prowse and Alex Moreno and with the £12 million deal which took Nikola Milenkovic to Nottingham Forest a bargain already – the ambition of two-time European champions can be traced all the way back to their owner.

Evangelos Marinakis once helped guide his beloved Olympiakos to seven successive Greek Super League titles.

He was never going to be willing to settle, then, on Nottingham Forest simply avoiding relegation. Bigger, and better, is the aim.

“I am confident that you will see, in years to come, where Forest will be,” Marinakis told the BBC back in May.

“It’s a great team. It inspires us and we want to do more, and you will see in the years to come that we have big dreams for Forest.”

Evangelos Marinakis makes changes to Nottingham Forest training ground

The work Marinakis has done at Forest’s training ground and with their academy, specifically, highlights his determination to make the club a market leader in all areas.

The Telegraph report that the 56-year-old shipping magnate is ‘desperate’ to turn Forest’s behind-the-scenes set-up into one of the best on the continent. Marinakis has reportedly spent millions in an attempt to improve everything from the training pitches to the canteen.

The Telegraph add that a key change has been made, too, regarding the lay-out of Nottingham Forest’s training ground.

Previously, the gym could only be located via a flight of stairs. Meaning injured players had to contend with dragging their aching limbs up a floor before getting the treatment they needed.

These days, the gym is located next to the physio room on a floor below. A sensible change, and the sort of which Marinakis is keen to make in order to keep incrementally improving a club and a squad that has come a long way since they were milling around in the depths of the Championship.

In addition to adding a proverbial layer of paint to the training ground, Marinakis has been about his plan to potentially add around 20,000 new seats to the City Ground terraces too.

“That is where the team belongs, that is where the tradition is. I am sure a 50,000 capacity stadium will be full, watching our team and our passion,” Marinakis said recently.

“I hope that, in the next two or three months, the plans will be approved. It is important for the team and for the town. In the years to come, I want us to have one of the best stadiums in England.”

Nuno’s Nottingham Forest face Chelsea as Morgan Gibbs-White returns

Nottingham Forest will face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Nuno Espirito Santo will welcome back Morgan Gibbs-White from suspension, as Forest look to maintain a fine start which has seen them lose only once in six games.

Nuno, meanwhile, has nothing but praise for an owner who, lest we forget, has developed quite the reputation for hiring and firing in the coaching department.

“[Marinakis’ ambition] drives everybody,” Nuno said a few months back. “He is the biggest authority at the club, so his ambition is what guides us. The way he wants to make this club grow and become a stable club… all of these ambitions.

“This is what drives us. It goes from the owner to everybody at the training ground. Everybody has to commit themselves and be aware that they are part of something that wants to grow.”