Nottingham Forest's Collapse Sparks Extraordinary On Field Confrontation

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Crispin Leyser | Last updated May 11, 2025 4:51 PM ET

Nottingham Forest have been the surprise package of the 2024/25 English Premier League, They were the first team to beat the eventual champions, Liverpool, and under the guidance of Nuno Espitíto Santo have sat in third place for most of the year, which would qualify them for the Champions League.

After narrowly avoiding relegation last season - and against teams with far bigger budgets - it's an astonishing achievement.

Unfortunately in recent weeks the wheels have come off the bus and a seventh place finish now looks the most likely outcome. They've won just won of their last six matches, drawing two of them including today's 2-2 tie against the already-relegated Leicester City at home.

This latest result prompted extraordinary scenes at the final whistle, as the club's Greek owner, Evangelos Marinakis, took to the pitch to publicly confront and berate Nuno.

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The Greek billionaire was angered by miscommunication between the coaching and medical staff that left Forest playing with 10 men for the final stages as forward Taiwo Awoniyi was injured.

Sky Sports Pundit, Gary Neville, accused Marinakis of “absolutely scandalous” behavior and said Nuno should “negotiate his exit tonight”.

Yet Nuno defended the owner and claimed the incident was clear evidence of the Greek’s “passion” for winning, saying...

“[We feel] disappointment and frustration of course. But it is because of the owner and his passion that we are growing as a club. He pushes us. He wants us to be better. It is his passion and desire to be a big club – 30,000 people felt the same today. For sure, many of them would go on the pitch and shake us down. Us as a club, we owe a lot to the Marinakis family.”

Marinakis clarified his behavior with the following statement.

“With two more games to go in the Premier League, we must keep believing and keep dreaming, right to the final kick in the final game. We are extremely proud and close to Nuno and the team, and we must all celebrate the historic achievements of this season."

If Nottingham Forest end up "only" qualifying for the Europa League, as seems highly likely now, it's still been a remarkable season of over-achievement.

As Brighton found two years ago when they made a similar run only to falter at the last, it's incredibly hard to sustain a top-five challenge over a whole season without the squad strength-in-depth and experience that the "big" clubs have.

Related: The Race for the Top Five

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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