Stefan Borson speculates Nottingham Forest ownership agreement after paperwork filed
Nottingham Forest’s fortunes have drastically turned around since Evangelos Marinakis and Sokratis Kominakis took over the club in 2017.
Marinakis owns an 80 per cent stake at the City Ground, while Kominakis’s shares are worth 20 per cent.
It has now been revealed Kominakis has left his role as a Forest director following an update earlier this week.
Nottinghamshire Live reported on 13 February the most likely reason behind the change to the board is the club are preparing to comply with Uefa competition regulations next season.
Forest and Marinakis-owned outfit Olympiacos could both be competing in Europe next season, with the governing body’s rules prohibiting clubs from being controlled by the same owners or directors from competing in the same competition.
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider one of the clubs would need to be put into a blind trust if there was a chance the two sides could play each other.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side currently sit third in the Premier League table, while Olympiacos are fighting for the Greek Super League title.
Nottingham Forest ownership ‘one to watch’ after new twist
Borson insisted the ownership situation at the City Ground is “one to watch” after Kominakis left the board.
He 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.”
Nottingham Forest receive boost after Evangelos Marinakis injection
Kominakis’s departure as a director comes after Marinakis has been making moves to convert his shareholder loans into equity.
Football Insider revealed on 16 January Marinakis had written off £72million of loans after making a similar £82million transaction earlier in the month.
The latest injection comes after it was confirmed any shareholder loans still in effect after 11 January must be submitted as an associated party transaction (APT) and undergo a fair market value assessment following the Premier League’s recent legal battle with Manchester City.
The Nottingham side will now avoid having to pay any interest on the Greek businessman’s loans.
