Takeover Confuses Vital Decisions

The impending takeover (or majority takeover – 80%) by Evangelos Marinakis of Nottingham Forest from Fawaz al-Hasawi raises some very odd and difficult decisions that need to be made.
Those decisions are absolutely vital, we all know them. Who will be manager, which players need to be signed, who gets an extended/improved deal, those kinds of things.

Evangelos Marinakis
The question and confusion becomes who makes those decisions. As we speak right now, Fawaz is still very much in charge and seems keen to retain that element of power. The supposed plan is that Fawaz will remain Chairman, but no longer owner. That will no doubt annoy a number of fans that the seemingly inept Fawaz will carry on in a key role.

But will that role be more than a token gesture? More than actually being a chairman who is there as a purely symbolic role to his 20% whilst Evangelos will also have his Olympiakos dealings to carry on with. He will no doubt have final says and a huge hands on role, but will day to day not be involved.

Marinakis knows how a club should be run and therefore would likely move to sort out the parts of the club that really have failed. Commercially and financially. Fawaz hasn’t handled these at all well, but with him retaining a day to day role will that see him try to exert these elements of control still? I doubt if things carried on as shambolically as they have with unpaid bills and badly ran commercial elements that Evangelos would allow that status quo?

Another element to consider is that the 20% Fawaz retains would surely be what they have decided that if and when we do get promoted that 20% stake, and selling it on would be enough to get the money invested in the club back, as well whatever the fee was for the Greeks to invest in Forest.
So who decides who is manager? There seems to be a large number of European names in the mix and we will look at this tomorrow, but for now, does Fawaz make his move whilst he does on paper still have control, or will Marinakis want his man, surely that’d make sense, he will be largely in control.

City Ground - who will be the next boss?

I can’t believe for one second that there is no contact between the buyer and the seller liaising over what needs to happen in the transition period and that Marinakis has sounded out people who’d ant in footballing and business roles, but this is Fawaz we are talking about. He is unpredictable and reckless with his decisions. Who knows if he goes and appoints a boss what would happen? He seems to be thinking he gets a large say and holds severe sway, but as I say, Marinakis will surely get final say.



It creates confusion for fans who want to know the future direction. Many of those may well be waiting on an appointment before investing in a season ticket. So it’s key something gets sorted, without rushing into a name. Let’s not forget a large swathe of football will be on holiday, or preparing for the Euros. It’s not as it has to be sorted now, but getting things finalised sooner really does help.

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