Nottingham Forest consider sacking chief executive, head of recruitment and scouting

Nottingham Forest’s recruitment chiefs are facing the sack after the club’s mammoth £150 million summer spend.

Evangelos Marinakis, the Forest owner, is set to take drastic action after the poor start to the season by axing some of the key men behind their summer transfer window.

Steve Cooper is fighting for his job after losing five successive Premier League matches and a decision is likely to be made on his future in the next 48 hours.

Marinakis is also scrutinising the recruitment team, and chief executive Dane Murphy, with wholesale changes expected before Forest’s next game against Aston Villa.

A remarkable 22 players were signed following Forest’s promotion from the Championship, but many of them have failed to impress.

It is understood that George Syrianos, the head of recruitment, and head of scouting Andy Scott are both facing uncertain futures and could leave the club this week.

Syrianos joined Forest from Stuttgart before the start of last season while Scott, who has previously worked at Watford, Brentford and Swansea, was appointed in January this year.

Murphy was hired from Barnsley last year and could be replaced by former Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley, who currently holds an advisory role at the City Ground.

Marinakis provided huge investment to strengthen Cooper’s squad but has been deeply frustrated by the lack of impact made by the new arrivals.

His son, Miltiadis, has taken on a more significant role at Forest and was heavily involved in the signing of England international Jesse Lingard.

Yet Syrianos and Scott were primarily in charge of recruitment and are now in the firing line as Marinakis conducts a review of why the club’s season has started so badly.

The most expensive signing was £25m capture Morgan Gibbs-White, the Wolves attacker, who was a Cooper target and has been one of the better players in a difficult season.

Other big buys were Taiwo Awoniyi (£17.5m from Union Berlin), Neco Williams (£17m from Liverpool) and Emmanuel Dennis (£15m from Watford).

Cooper, meanwhile, is under intense pressure with the club bottom of the table.

Rafael Benítez, the former Liverpool and Newcastle manager, has emerged as a potential replacement if Cooper is dismissed, while there has been interest shown in others.

Marinakis is also weighing up Cooper’s future ahead of Forest’s next game against Villa on Monday night.