The latest City Ground expansion update at Nottingham Forest speaks volumes

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Nottingham Forest’s remarkable rise on the pitch is clearly being matched by the ambition of owner Evangelos Marinakis, given the latest update on the expansion of the City Ground.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are currently third in the Premier League table, on the back of five consecutive league victories that have seen Forest firmly amongst the Champions League-chasing pack.

The run of form under the Forest manager is so impressive that Marinakis promised Espirito Santo a financial incentive upon European qualification, highlighting the desire for the side to continue on their upward trajectory.

Another way that Marinakis is financially backing Forest’s progress is the planned expansion of the City Ground, which has received a fresh update in a recent report.

Plans for the City Ground are reportedly ‘progressing’

According to the Daily Mail, the expansion of the City Ground is tied to the Forest owner’s wider ambitions for the football club.

The report said: “Plans for 50,000-seater expansion of the City Ground are progressing”, and that “Marinakis is the real driving force of this upwardly mobile football club.”

Recently, Marinakis converted £82m of loans into shares which further strengthened the club financially and this latest City Ground update shows that his moves to strengthen the club are far from over.

Forest’s history helped Marinakis choose to buy the club, with any expansion of the famous old stadium ensuring that he will be remembered with his own piece of Forest history, especially when comparing the potential size of the expansion to other Premier League stadiums.

How an expanded City Ground would rank in the Premier League

If Marinakis’ plan to expand the City Ground to 50,000 seats were to go ahead, the stadium would become the 8th largest stadium in the Premier League.

This would put Forest above European contenders such as Chelsea and Aston Villa in terms of stadium capacity, whilst sitting just behind Newcastle United and Manchester City.

Marinakis is said to be inspired by Stadium 974 in Qatar, which was built out of containers as a temporary stadium for the 2022 World Cup. Whilst it seems unlikely that an expansion to the City Ground would involve such radical design techniques, Marinakis’ ambition means that nothing can be ruled out.