Ex-Premier League manager ’emerges as the top candidate to replace Nuno Espirito Santo’ at Nottingham Forest amid head coach’s major rift with owner Evangelos Marinakis

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is thought to be interested in bringing a former Premier League manager back to the English top flight if current head coach Nuno Espirito Santo is moved on from the club. 

Nuno admitted that his relationship with the Greek tycoon was ‘not so good’ in an incendiary press conference on Friday, just seven days after the manager claimed that his squad was imbalanced and ‘very far’ from where it needed to be at the start of the season. 

‘Last season was very, very, very close, almost on a daily basis,’ Nuno said of his relationship with Marinakis, but: ‘This season, not so well.’

‘Our relationship has changed,’ he added. ‘It’s not so close, it’s not on a daily basis. It’s not good, I think everybody at the club should be together but it’s not the reality.’

Marinakis was thought to have been stunned by the nature of the comments, with reports later that day suggesting that Nuno might not even be in charge at the club for their away fixture against Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon. 

Should there be a change at the club however, Marinakis is believed to have a number of candidates under consideration. 

As per the Sun, foremost among them is former Liverpool and Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers. 

Currently plying his trade at Celtic, Rodgers is thought to be hugely admired by the Nottingham Forest owner, who is believed to have been considering Rodgers for the role at the City Ground for months. 

The outlet has suggested that Marinakis could move for Rodgers – who is in the final year of his deal with the Scottish Premiership outfit – next week, as Celtic gear up for their Champions League play-off match with Kazakhstan club Kairat. 

Rodgers is in his second stint at Celtic Park, having previously left the club to join Leicester in 2019. 

The 52-year-old won the FA Cup with the Foxes, and previously won promotion with Swansea City before moving on to Liverpool.  

Another managerial target thought to be under consideration by Marinakis is Ange Postecoglou, who was dismissed by Tottenham at the end of the season, despite having won the club the Europa League, ending their long-running trophy drought. 

Nuno first sparked speculation that all was not well between manager and his club’s hierarchy when he hit out at the way that transfer business had been conducted this summer. 

‘We are very far – very, very far – from where we should be,’ Nuno said ahead of their first match against Brentford. ‘We are very far in terms of preparation, in terms of planning, in terms of the squad.

‘So we are all very worried that in two or three days time we are playing for the Premier League, the most demanding competition in the world. And we are very far. Very, very far.

‘The plans that we had didn’t come through. The preparation in terms of squad was not ideal. We didn’t have a chance to create the bond – and this is what I think is more important.

‘Because we don’t know which squad we have. We have players working here that know they’re going to leave on loan. We have a major problem.’

Nuno’s comments appeared to light a fire at the City Ground, with the ownership embarking on a spending frenzy that saw deals signed for Manchester City’s James McAtee, Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich Town, and Rennes’ Arnaud Kalimuendo. 

Nottingham Forest also enjoyed a bright start to their campaign, beating Keith Andrews’ side 3-1 at home. 

Suggestions of tumult between Marinakis and Nuno were first evident at the end of last season, when Marinakis charged onto the pitch following a 2-2 draw with Leicester. 

The owner appeared to have a frustrated confrontation with the manager after the final whistle, but the club disputed that there were issues between Marinakis and Nuno. 

Instead it stressed that the owner had only been concerned that Taiwo Awonyi had been allowed to play on despite suffering a late injury when he collided with the goalpost. 

‘In the final ten minutes of the game, when (Marinakis) saw our player clearly in discomfort, struggling through visible pain, it became increasingly difficult for him to stay on the sidelines,’ a club statement published at the time read. 

‘His deep frustration at seeing our player lying on the ground in severe pain -something no one with genuine care could ignore – triggered him to go onto the pitch.

‘It was instinctive, human, and a reflection of just how much this team and its people mean to him. He would do the same again if such an unfortunate event were ever to reoccur.

‘The truth of the matter is there was no confrontation, with Nuno or with others, either on the pitch or inside the stadium.

‘There was only shared frustration between all of us that the medical team should never have allowed the player to continue.’