Whilst Manchester City are currently embroiled in a significant legal battle with the Premier League, Nottingham Forest look to be in a strong financial position.
Tensions have been rarely calm between Forest and the Premier League, with Forest’s four-point deduction for a PSR breach last season causing a furious reaction from Evangelos Marinakis.
Marinakis has also ranted about VAR in the Premier League, highlighting that the Forest owner may not be the league’s favourite owner to deal with, but recent updates have seen Forest move into a much healthier financial position which will please the governing officials.
After Forest posted a net spend of just £16m for this season, the club is steering away from the previous PSR problems and into a more financially viable situation, that can only be improved if Nuno Espirito Santo can steer Forest into European football this season.
Forest’s financial position could be improved yet further, though, if Marinakis can use the latest updates from Manchester City’s case against the Premier League to his advantage.
Manchester City score seismic legal victory vs the Premier League
The current Premier League holders face over 100 charges of misconduct from the Premier League but according to a report by the Daily Mail, City have just made a significant legal breakthrough.
The report said: “An independent panel has sided with champions Manchester City and deemed that the league’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) regulations, which ran from December 2021 to November 2024, were unlawful in their entirety.”
To those who don’t know, the APT regulations prevented clubs from agreeing commercial deals with parties that were associated with the club, through the owners.
Explained best by financial expert, Kieran Maguire on X: “Clubs can now arrange sponsor deals with companies connected to owners and PL can’t overrule the sums agreed for 2021-24.”
Whilst this may not impact those at the City Ground directly as no such deal has been done between companies linked with Marinakis since the rule came in, it does open up a significant opportunity for the Forest owner to capitalise on future sponsorship deals with his empire of businesses.
Evangelos Marinakis could capitalise on APT rulings for Nottingham Forest
Given the previously discussed financial strength of the club, Forest could capitalise on the extension to the PSR rulings and have slightly more room to invest in Espirito Santo’s squad in the summer.
There’s nothing slight about what Marinakis could do with the rulings on the APT laws, though, when considering how much money he has made from businesses outside of football.
Marinakis owns Capital Maritime Trading Corporation, an international shipping company which, according to an article by The Sun, has earned the Greek businessman a significant sum of money.
The report said: “The Greek shipping magnate [Marinakis], 57, has earned a staggering fortune of around £2.5billion through his company, Capital Maritime Trading Corp.”
With APT rulings deemed unlawful, Marinakis could now feasibly broker a deal between Forest and his shipping company to create a sponsorship agreement which would be beneficial as any money generated for Capital Maritime Trading by the sponsorship would be going to Marinakis, which he could use to invest in Forest should he choose.
The City Ground redevelopment is set for 2026 so it is an exciting, yet expensive time at Forest, so any advantage Marinakis can take to generate more money for the club is surely one that will appeal to him.
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