Nottingham Forest ‘termination’ decision addressed as Evangelos Marinakis makes change
Evangelos Marinakis has made a change at the City Ground
Nottingham Forest’s change to its board of directors has been discussed by a financial expert.
A submission on the Companies House website details that Mr Sokratis Kominakis is no longer a director of the club. The official document is listed as “termination of a director appointment”.
Kominakis is co-owner of the Reds. The Greek was part of the consortium, headed by Evangelos Marinakis, to take over the club in May 2017.
The most likely reason behind the change to the board is that Forest are preparing to comply with UEFA competition regulations. It comes as there is the possibility both the Reds and fellow Marinakis-owned outfit Olympiacos could be competing in European football next season. UEFA rules prohibit clubs from being controlled by the same owners or directors from competing in the same European competition.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are currently third in the Premier League table.
Speaking about the change, former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson told Football Insider: “I think it’s very hard to read too much into something like that without any background insight.
“I think it’s just impossible to guess what it’s about, to be honest. I don’t know the deep relationship between Kominakis and Marinakis.
“It’s possible it could be connected to both Forest and Olympiacos being in Europe next season. But if the ultimate ownership is still Marinakis, it’s not going to make a difference whether one director moves.
“This is complete speculation, but maybe what they’ve done is agreed to move all of the ownership of Olympiacos into the hands of Kominakis and all of the ownership of Forest, with no cross directorships maybe.
“But then Marinakis would presumably have resigned from Olympiacos. We might not know whether he has or not. But one of the teams will have to go into a blind trust like what has happened with Man City and Girona if they’re both in the Champions League.
“They will have to make some provision for it, but it’s probably one to watch.”
Forest have had a few behind-the-scenes changes in recent months. Nicholas Randall KC was reappointed as chairman in October after his replacement, Tom Cartledge, stepped down from the role.
Meanwhile, Lina Souloukou officially took on the role of chief executive last month. Souloukou has worked with Marinakis before, at Olympiacos. With Kominakis no longer a director, according to the list on the club’s official website, the City Ground board is made up of Randall, Ioannis Vrentzos and non-executive directors Jonny Owen, Simon Forster and Michael Dugher. The latter was appointed to the board in November when it was announced Cartledge was stepping down.
