From the moment he took over at Nottingham Forest five years ago, Evangelos Marinakis has been nothing if not ambitious.
And that is not about to change now. The plans he has alluded to for the January transfer window have seen to that.
“We will try to get at least an additional two players which will help us,” he has said in an interview with The Telegraph. That will be in addition to Gustavo Scarpa, who has already linked up with the squad ahead of his contract officially starting on January 1. And note the words “at least” in Marinakis’ statement.
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To many outside of the club that will probably be met with a roll of the eyes. A “here they go again” type quip of the kind which did the rounds among pundits and on social media following the Reds’ huge summer shopping spree.
But those kinds of jokes do Forest, and Marinakis, a disservice. They also point to a lack of understanding of the club’s situation at times, too.
January will not see a repeat of the 22 additions which were made in the summer - an overhaul which the Reds had little choice but to undertake following promotion. There will be ins and outs next month, but, just as in the last window, the aim is to make any decisions with the best intentions.
Head coach Steve Cooper has spoken about business being planned “for the right reasons”. In his interview, Marinakis also talks of “believing in” the players already at the City Ground.
Of the summer outlay, he says: “I didn’t just buy players to spend money, it was because we needed them.” It will be the same this time around; not spending for the sake of it. Likewise, he explains, the decision to axe recruitment chiefs Andy Scott and George Syrianos, was because he wanted to “bring in even better” people for the roles.
Having ended a 23-year-long wait for top-flight football to return Trentside, Marinakis isn’t about to give that up easily. Momentum had built prior to the World Cup break and a corner seemed to have been turned, but Cooper’s side still have a fight on their hands to stay up. And they know they need further reinforcements to help with that, particularly as injuries have begun to bite.
As ever, whether the calls made with incomings and outgoings are the right ones, whether dismissing Scott and Syrianos was a good idea, whether the right decisions have been taken, will only be known come the end of the season - when Forest are either planning for another year in the Premier League or are dealing with the fallout from the alternative.
In the meantime, all they can do is ignore the outside noise and stick to their plan. That is the key - ensuring any deals done are sensible ones, made, as Cooper says, “for the right reasons”, and any last-minute panicking come deadline day (if Forest are still stuck in the bottom three, for example) is avoided.
Providing more funds in January is another show of ambition from Marinakis. But it is also a sign of determination; of resolve to do everything possible to survive. How that cash is spent is what really matters.
What transfer business should Forest do in January? Have your say in the comments below
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