New Owner, New Approach?

On Saturday we looked at the whole question of in this period of flux, who really is in charge? The incumbent Fawaz, who is selling up, or the incoming Evangelos Marinakis. As we discussed, Fawaz seems to regard his remaining stake as enough to have a deciding say in all matters, whilst Marinakis, has the experience and more importantly the controlling interest to put together the future structure and therefore direction of Nottingham Forest.

I have been a defender of Fawaz for his tenure at Forest. Mistakes have been made, all too frequently, but this is a guy willing and able to spend large sums of cash on Forest. Without his injection of money 4 years ago, I feel we would have gone down, as we were skint, and had seen many of our best player’s leave, for fees proved to a pittance or when their contract wound down.

Marinakis

That doesn’t however condone the serious short fallings over the past couple of seasons especially. You could at first believe naivety, but after 2 years, that became apparent it was that Fawaz would not let go. CEOs and Directors of Football were a barrier. Fawaz wanted a Manager and a direct line to him. No-one else muddying the waters. If there was one guy, Fawaz could control that guy, and if some sources are to believe, influence decisions and selections.

So with Marinakis, we already have discussions of Technical Directors and CEO’s coming in. People who Fawaz should have installed to stop mistakes like the signings of the Algerians. With this model, the manager becomes the Head Coach, recruitment and scouting is done by those further up, and allows an overall picture and strategy.

Now there is various names being suggested, and I’m not about to look at whom or what they are like. Let’s all be honest, with most clubs the various heads of recruitment or technical directors and not usually house hold names (to us anyway.) What it does look like being is a European, and that’s an interesting angle. To cast the scouting net wider will be a huge bonus. Aside from the occasional Moussi type signing we never really dipped our toes into the European market too heavily as much as some clubs at our level.

But having a “Football Man” to make these decisions in a more structured way rather than the Fawaz approach, which aside from O’Driscoll has always been take  whoever is out of work and therefore cheap. To start chasing employed managers that would need compensation fee paying goes against the Fawaz grain.

It’s by no means been said that this will be part of a wider pattern of what’s happening with Championship clubs but we can’t rule out the sister team approach that certain clubs at this level have used to mixed success. No doubt Watford benefitted from the Pozzo family tie ins. Brentford have a relationship with FC Midjtylland (majority shareholder in common), and then there’s the ill-fated Charlton / Standard Liege tie in. Whether it is an opportunity to move a stock of players around, or whether it is just a potential tie in, what’s for sure is Marinakis knows how to run a successful club.

Marinakis is used to success and trophies

To be able to get a proper structure which runs the club, or at least the football side in a stable manner will be a great boost. Keeping players contracts under control. Knowing when to buy and sell (although many would prefer not to, in this era of FFP getting maximum value from players is key) Identifying key targets and bringing them in, allowing the Head Coach to coach and pick the team. We’ve never really had that structure before, and although we had the transfer panel, its job was more of a yes/no policy on committee, sharing decisions, rather than it being an actual role in the club.

A proper CEO is also likely to be a must. Fawaz as I said before liked trying to cut any people out between himself and the manager, preferring a more hands on approach. Indeed Paul Faulkner was largely bought in to appease Stuart Pearce, and without Fawaz wanting his direct route to the manager, no doubt to revel in glories being down to him, instead it has shown up huge short comings with the club, commercially and financially. Ordinarily such positions at club have little or no importance to many fans, but with Forest its become a focal point for identifying a huge problem at the club.

This is without of course the elephant in the room. Who will be that head Coach? How will it fit in to a potential new structure with Technical Directors and Directors of Football? That’s a question to be looked at next.