The Marinakis Manifesto

[ThePromisedLand]

Now to be clear, this is the only interview that our owner has done for the club in England in 3.5 years of owning us.


 
Evangelos Marinakis has done one interview since taking over Forest, and that was back in 2017,  where he spelt out his vision for Nottingham Forest in his first Forest interview with BBC.

Marinakis told the BBC "We have a long-term plan and within this long-term plan we want to bring Nottingham to where it belongs. And of course, Nottingham belongs in the Premier League. And Nottingham belongs to the elite of the Premier League," he says "Furthermore the supporters of Nottingham have been tired all these years, they didn't have such good times. But they remained loyal and for us that's very important. "The potential is huge. The potential of this team is that when it will be very well organised, when it will achieve victories again, when it will have a better position in the Championship, when it will have a better position and we can look seriously at the Premier League, then we will be there to stay."

The Marinakis manifesto was……

1. Return "stability" to a club with "huge potential" which "belongs to the elite of the Premier League”!
   
2. Not make rash pledges, saying: "I never give promises - I deliver."
   
3. Back Mark Warburton and says he will work within EFL financial rules to support him in the transfer market.
   
4. Formulate a 'fans advisory body' and 'youth council' with a representative attending board meetings.
   
5. Reduce ticket prices to reward fan loyalty.
   
6. Improve the City Ground
   
   

Well after 3.5 years, what has been done?
 

1. 3 years in Championship, not even made play offs, and now in a relegation battle again.
   
2. He doesn’t make “official” promises but the club also hasn’t delivered yet – perhaps it’s time to make promises.
   

Of the “unofficial” promises that were made,  - new state-of-art training ground - Champs Lg facilities in 5 years - playing in Europe in 5 years - Miracle Gates (announced Sep ‘17) to do all you can to go up straight away - club would act in all cases ‘with values of old school Arsenal’ Then nothing can be further from the truth

1. 3. Well, he didn’t support Mark, he soon sacked him, and Sabri was certainly not supported, even from a position of strength like last January. During their tenure at the club, we have made more in transfer fees than we have spent, so yes worked within FFP, but the side is simply not good enough, and now we have Chris Hughton to please, and to me they are supporting him with signings like Knockeart, but other targets remain a worry IMO

1. 4.This didn’t happen, I for one would love to have a meeting with them.  

1. 5. Reduced ticket prices, then put them up, then messed up on refunds.

1. 6.Yes, tidied City Ground up, gave it a lick of paint renamed hospitality spots, but still waiting on the new stand, which seems a promise that won’t be fulfilled. To me a perfect time to build the new stand ready for when fans can return.

I am a worried supporter of Nottingham Forest, and fear the way the club is being run, means we won’t have a club in the future, and at the moment, not many fans (including me) are proud of how things are going on and off the pitch, and we are dangerously close to League one rather than Premier League.

When will more fans ask the CEO, why haven't you delivered on The Marinakis manifesto ?

Gives me zero pleasure in agreeing with the above sentiments.