Evangelos Marinakis And Co

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

I want to see the two clubs ran separately.

NFFC is a huge club and cannot be run using the staff of another club.

NFFC needs it's own full time staff to run smoothly and properly in my opinion.

[ozzyten10]

Olympiacos is a very different animal to Forest. I think EM has been somewhat naive and I am surprised. The EFL is the hardest league in the world to get out of. It is somewhat devoid of any realism regarding football business because of the rewards of the Premier League. It is probably only matched to teams going for Champions League in European leagues in terms of risk / rewards. There are 15 out of the 23 clubs who at the start of every season have a realistic chance of playoffs/promotion. This is further warped by the disparity of finance from relegated clubs and further complicated by the harshest FFP rules in the world. Lets hope we do a wolves and get it right in the third season of ownership...

[Reds73]

I can only assume that EM does listen to Randall, Metgod etc
as MON wouldn't have been put forward by either Veentzos or the other Greek contingent

[Strawberry Avenger]

The thing is NG3 and what worries me slightly is that there appears to be too many chefs in the kitchen.

We have all these people constantly coming over from Greece sticking their oar in, Anigo, Modesto, Karembeu, Dourekas etc etc and I don't like it.

Vrentzos has always been a 'strange' bloke. He has never ever given an interview in his life.

Personally if Marinakis wants to 'own' our Football Club then that is fine by me but I think he needs to hire full time Forest people at our club and not rely on his Olympiakos foot soldiers to be going backwards and forwards between England and Greece every five minutes because it ain't working out.

In my opinion, we should start with a full time English CEO not a part time Greek one.

:cool:  Fair comment, SnifferDog.



I wonder if that led to the discordant atmosphere around about the Ipswich game...

If we lose MoN/Keane 'in six months.'  That will be three managers with a promotion on their CV through the door.

You have to then ask, 'What's the common link?'

Hopefully it won't come to that and their time here will be a success.  But as we've seen with changes in managers half way through a season the 'new manager bounces at Forest' that it usually turns into a mini-pre-season that derails any chance of a top 6 finish.

I think the only one I remember being a 'bounce' was Billy MKII?

SA.

[ozzyten10]

OK - accepted that I know little of FFP across Europe - but that dwarfs the riches and allowable losses on offer in the Prem. Also I will be very interested with the EFL ruling on BCFC coming up. I am re-assured that the new owners have a handle of FFP and have some creative ways around it.
The biggest area that has suffered for us and where we are way behind is a proper player recruitment strategy. Brentford do a fabulous job in this area - so have Norwich and numerous successful medium-small clubs we should be on a par with. We are rightly proud of our academy but with our somewhat scatter-gun recruitment recently, this has suffered. Leeds focus on youth development has shown it can be done. Maybe Karanka is to blame for this.

[Strawberry Avenger]

I can only assume that EM does listen to Randall, Metgod etc
as MON wouldn't have been put forward by either Veentzos or the other Greek contingent

Aye.

SA.  :cool:

[Strawberry Avenger]

OK - accepted that I know little of FFP across Europe - but that dwarfs the riches and allowable losses on offer in the Prem. Also I will be very interested with the EFL ruling on BCFC coming up. I am re-assured that the new owners have a handle of FFP and have some creative ways around it.
The biggest area that has suffered for us and where we are way behind is a proper player recruitment strategy. Brentford do a fabulous job in this area - so have Norwich and numerous successful medium-small clubs we should be on a par with. We are rightly proud of our academy but with our somewhat scatter-gun recruitment recently, this has suffered.  Leeds focus on youth development has shown it can be done. Maybe Karanka is to blame for this.

Well, it was 'Project youth' and 'time' under Warburton.  We had many of the Academy first teamer players. 

Then it was 'Project Now' under Aitor.  But Cash and Benny still playing.

Now it's 'Right here, Right now...' under MoN and Keane.

You look at Brentford, they seem to do a sound job of recruiting.  Punching well above their weight.  Norwich just seem to keep digging up players to challenge.  (Though they're been in the Premier far more recently than us...and they stuck with their man when things were going mid-table last time around...and now reaping the rewards...)  Leeds have been, like Norwich, building for a while...and higher in the table than Forest for more years.

Forest.  They've been bottom 8 for the last three seasons.  Then suddenly we're expected to be top 6 or top 2.  Maybe if recruitment had been better.  Maybe if they'd 'stuck with something' this Jan'.

But if you're leadership isn't consistent you can hardly expect that results on the pitch will be better.  The position of the club is reflective of off the field leadership from the top to the management level.  Forest are 12th.  5 points off the play offs.  It's not a disaster.  It's progress.

The £25 million on '24' players over last Jan and Summer needed doing.  It was catch up to replace 5-6 different manager's teams.  It had no identity.  Aitor gave it identity.  And it was going something.  Slowly.  But only as slow as it takes in general and as slow as it was at Boro'.

Forest are a club in transition to being 'run right.'  That takes time off the pitch to get right.  So why wouldn't that be reflected on the pitch?

Brian Clough was a genius.  And it took him 3 years.  The appointment of Taylor was the missing piece.  Hopefully the appointment of Keane will help MoN similarly.  But there's no reason to suggest they will storm the top 6 and chase down the top 2.

Forest's recruitment hasn't been good enough of players.  Leadership off the the pitch and with the management of the team hasn't been consistent.

The top 6-8 seem to have their act together.

Forest have been recently bought and are on their 3rd manager.  They're STILL putting the team together off the field.  They've just appointed their 3rd manager for our 2nd pre-season this season...amidst an injury crisis on top of the worst run of form of the season which, funnily enough, reflected the discourse OFF the pitch.

Forest deserve to be where they are.  Being 'only' 5 points off the play offs is a miracle.

The mediocrity of the top 6's form is there for the taking.  Can Forest take advantage of it?

We'll see.

SA.

[Strawberry Avenger]

OK - accepted that I know little of FFP across Europe

You probably don't want to know either, the financial disparities in football means some leagues are as poor as a church mouse & rife with corruption.

A healthy parachute payment club in this league will have more money going through it's coffers in one season than some entire east European countries top flight leagues, & even Greek top flight Olympiacos, serial winners & frequent participants in Europe, will probably earn about 50% of the domestic TV revenue of one of the more watched teams in our division this season.

That's why some leagues permit virtually no losses, & hand out punishments that would have relegated us & possibly destroyed us in our troubled times.

Sometimes we don't know how lucky we are.

The biggest area that has suffered for us and where we are way behind is a proper player recruitment strategy. Brentford do a fabulous job in this area

Ironically last year we parted company with the guy who started that project with Matthew Benham 10 years ago.

:cool:

Hmm...I'd take Brentford's long term view.  Their recruitment has been eye-catching.

But it's the same old chestnut. Get the right people. Stick with it. Give it time.

SA.

[Strawberry Avenger]

I always thought Pearce had a good eye for a player. (He could see the up and coming English talent as he was the Youth England manager?)

Get the England talent before it becomes too expensive..? Pity we didn't have that to temper our Greek owners lack of knowledge of the Championship? Which is its own unique beast.

I like what Marinakis has done with his club in Greece. But that took time. And it suggests that he's here for the long term and the gold riches of the Premier.

However, the Championship and English football won't be set alight with crumbs from teh table of the Greek League.

SA.

[PsychoStooge]

:cool:

Hmm...I'd take Brentford's long term view.  Their recruitment has been eye-catching.  

But it's the same old chestnut.  Get the right people.  Stick with it.  Give it time.

SA.

I often see this said and while I agree their ideas on recruitment are great, you also have to put in in context of Forest. Imagine the fan reaction if we had closed the academy and bought young and cheap talent instead, grew it and then sold it and finished mid-table every season, I think there'd be uproar from our fans.

[Strawberry Avenger]

I always thought Pearce had a good eye for a player

Antonio, Assombalonga, & Cash, along with debuts for Burke & Walker?

What's that, about £30m profit, with 2 still on the books?

We've had worse eyes at the club certainly.

*nods.  Oh yes...

I'd love Pearce back at the club.  Think he'd be good in that kind of role.  He'd be as good as any other part time or 'short term' advisor...

SA.

[Strawberry Avenger]

:cool:

Hmm...I'd take Brentford's long term view.  Their recruitment has been eye-catching.  

But it's the same old chestnut.  Get the right people.  Stick with it.  Give it time.

SA.

I often see this said and while I agree their ideas on recruitment are great, you also have to put in in context of Forest. Imagine the fan reaction if we had closed the academy and bought young and cheap talent instead, grew it and then sold it and finished mid-table every season, I think there'd be uproar from our fans.

I certainly wouldn't want to see our academy closed, but for the 7 or 8 years when Matt (& Mark for a lot of it) mixed both shrewd recruitment & their academy I thought it was a sound plan.

Tbf. I understand Matts logic, especially considering the Lionel road development, that's impacted the club in the same way the Emirates development saw Wenger hit a wall, due to financial restrictions, Brentford just can't afford to compete financially at academy level in the way that bigger clubs do.

However, with future investment already earmarked for our academy & with our more healthy financial options we're not in a position of having to choose either or, like Brentford did.

Forest set out their stall a long time ago.  And it's been the one bright light and guiding star that probably kept Forest on the map and in business.

The highlight of the last 20 years bar Paul Hart and Davies.

Dawson.  Reid.  Jenas.  Williams.  Burke.  Benny.  Smith's 'Hand of God' which kept us in the Champo.  Bre'.  Worrall.  Cash.

We've not done so bad in that regard.  And we have Tyler, Grant and Smith flying the flag for a promotion chasing side in League 2.

20 goals for Tyler.  Part of me wishes his energy and optimism was here at Forest.

But we have Appiah waiting in the 'wings...'

SA.