“Our relationship is not good”
Premier League coach reveals trouble with owner
22.08.2025 – 6:01 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Nottingham Forest was perhaps the biggest surprise of the past Premier League season. But the successful coach wobbles.
Thick air at Nottingham Forest: As coach Nuno Espírito Santo announced on Friday at the press conference before the league game at Crystal Palace, there are tensions between him and owner Evangelos Marinakis. “Our relationship has changed. It is not good. Everyone in the club should be closely together, but it is not the reality with us.”
A few hours before the press conference, the transfer journalist Matteo Moretto wrote that owner Marinaki would think about a dismissal of Espírito Santos. Even though Nottingham reached the European Cup for the first time in 30 years. In addition, Forest won his opening game in the current Premier League season against Brentford 3: 1.
“I always had a very good relationship with the owner, last season we were very, very narrow, had contact almost every day,” said the 51-year-old coach. But the first tensions had already become public at the end of last season. After the disappointing 2-2 against relegated Leicester City in May, Klubboss Marinakis was stormed on the lawn to confront Espírito Santo.
Marinakis herself replaced the incident afterwards, wrote on Instagram: “We all – coaching staff, players, fans and myself – were frustrated with the violation of Taiwo and the misjudgment of the medical staff, whether Taiwo can continue the game. This is natural, that is a demonstration of the passion that we feel for our club.” Taiwo meant Taiwo Awoniyi, who had only been substituted by the coach in the 83rd minute, but then injured himself.