Please, please, please don’t do anything silly, Mr Marinakis.
This week was one year ago. All hope seemed lost.
Nottingham ForestTook 2-0 defeat MiddlesbroughThe tragicomic slapstick was on full display in a game that could have been set to circus music.
Forest finished with a single point at bottom of Championship table after six defeats from seven. Chris Hughton was appointed as a safe pair of hands a year ago and stared at the touchline. He saw the jig, everyone saw it. The next morning, he was fired.
Steve Cooper arrived just a few days later and everything was changed.
We don’t need to go over what happened next too much because we all know what happened next. It’s not too dramatic to call it a footballing miracle, an implausible ride that ended in the play-off final, the ball flying into the Wembley net via Levi Colwill’s knee and promotion for the first time in 23 years.
Such was the magnitude of the achievement, the whiplash-inducing violence of the turnaround and the generation spent away from the top flight, you could make a reasonable case that Cooper is the second-most important manager in Forest’s history, with apologies to Billy Walker, Johnny Carey and Frank Clark.
Feels a long time ago now, doesn’t it?
Reality of the Premier LeagueForest was hit like a cold water bucket of sick to its face. The latest relief being the 3-2 defeat FulhamThe game is laced with deja vu. Similar to the match before, against BournemouthForest was in control of the match in the opening half. Although they looked great, Forest lost their lead after the break.
The speed at which the collapse occurred was the most notable difference. It was a slow, steady process that took place against Bournemouth for the entire second half. It looked more like an old clifftop home slowly sinking into the sea. It happened fast against Fulham. All three goals were scored in six minutes.
It’s not great and is unlikely to go down well in the Forest boardroom. Evangelos Marinkis is an ambitious man. One who stated in post-play-off celebrations that he aspired more than mere survival. One who has spent more this year than Forest’s previous 157 years of existence. He’s a man who might take four defeats on the spin, two in humiliating fashion to fellow newly promoted teams, personally. He’s a man who has, to say the least, not been afraid to make ruthless and unsentimental decisions about the men who manage his football teams.
Michel was fired in January 2015 after leading Olympiacos, the second consecutive Greek Super League title, to its second successive victory.
Paulo Bento received his cards from the Greek giants in March 2016 seven points clear of the league’s top.
He also dismissed Pedro Martins in August, after leading them to three consecutive league championships. However, just a few days before, he had presided over a 4-0 loss to Maccabi Haifa. Champions League qualifiers. Pedro, thanks for your hard work. What have you done for us recently?
But, if you’re reading this Mr Marinakis: please, please, please don’t do anything silly at Forest.
Marinakis will have been less than impressed with Forest’s start to the season (Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
These are rare circumstances. Promotion came with a cobbled-together collection of players, over half of whom had dispersed while everyone’s clothes still stank of Champagne. Fulham was already promoted, and Fulham had been planning for the Premier League for six more weeks by the day that Wembley happened.
Over the summer, not one but two teams of players were recruited. Everyone is still essentially learning each other’s names. These conditions do not make it possible to move from the second tier up to the top in an orderly manner.
“Some of our game is positive and looks like we’re progressing, but there are other parts when we do look like a new team,” Cooper said after the game. “When you need to regroup and when you need to stay together, that comes with an experienced team of being together, with connections on the pitch.
“That comes when you have real trust with each other, and trust comes with time.
“It’s the sort of stuff you usually address in pre-season, but we’re addressing it right in the middle of the Premier League.”
It brought to mind the old line by Brendan Rodgers, who once said that managing a football team is a bit like trying to build an aeroplane at the same time as you’re flying it. Ol’ Brendan has a big stack of easily mockable quotes to his name, but that was a good one.
Forest’s journey to this season has been difficult for them. Cooper is charged with turning a group made up of strangers into a cohesive team capable of competing in the Premier League. Cooper is close to making sense of the situation, even if he was promoted from Forest’s position last season.
It is obvious that Forest’s home defeats against Forest’s two rival teams, ending in familiar failures but still being considered must wins, will cause concern. Cooper should be kept in mind until the end. World CupThis is the simplest way to get out of this mess.
That’s the logical argument. There’s also the emotional one: after last season there’s inevitably an emotional attachment to Cooper from the fans, with isn’t nothing. With such huge change in the squad it’s difficult to form much of a relationship with the players, but with the manager it’s still strong. Cooper has made Forest supporters feel something quite powerful, if the point of watching football and supporting a team is how it makes you feel. That can’t be dismissed just seven games into the season.
Forest is not considering any changes at this time. But with the owner’s form, combined with Cooper’s agreed-but-still-unsigned contract, it’s natural to worry.
So, we say again: please, please, please don’t do anything silly, Mr Marinakis.
