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'How can Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis be my favourite person after brutal decision?'
Martin O’Neill has quipped he is not the biggest fan of Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis.
The 72-year-old has been impressed by his former club’s flying start to the season and is confident they will continue to do well under Nuno Espirito Santo. But he seemingly still hasn’t forgiven Marinakis for calling time on his own stint as Reds boss after just 19 games.
One of Forest’s Miracle Men as a player, O’Neill was brought back to the City Ground as manager in January 2019 following Aitor Karanka ’s dismissal. However, the Northern Irishman was given the boot only a few months later as Marinakis replaced him with Sabri Lamouchi that summer.
In a discussion on talkSPORT, O’Neill was asked by Jim White: “You would love success for Forest but not for Marinakis? He’s not your favourite person?”
The European Cup winner jokingly replied: “How would he be my favourite person if he gave me 19 games and then disposed of my services? How would he be my favourite? I’m going to have a private conversation with the bosses of talkSPORT and see how White would feel if his job has been threatened every single week!”
Nevertheless, O’Neill rates the job head coach Nuno is currently doing with the Reds. The Portuguese has the team sitting fifth in the Premier League table with 11 games gone.
Forest return to action after the international break on Saturday when they make the trip to face Arsenal (3pm kick-off). They lost 3-1 at home to Newcastle United before the fortnight’s hiatus, but O’Neill believes that result will prove little more than a “blip”.
Asked if he thought the defeat indicated the Reds’ bubble had burst, he replied: “No, I don’t. Not at all. That was a disappointing result in the sense that they were on such a really good run and had they won their points tally at this stage of the season would have been enormous. But they are still greatly placed.
“They’ve got a lot of good players in the side. They have looked strong defensively and they can break forward, and they’ve got a bit of pace in the team. They score a few goals.
“It’s a wee bit surprising about the centre forward (Chris Wood) doing so well, I must admit. He’s the same age as me, but he’s done remarkably well!
“They lost to Newcastle, but just a blip in proceedings. Had you asked Forest fans at the start of the season if they'd not have any relegation problems, they'd probably have accepted that - just a stabilising season as much as anything else.
“But expectation has now risen, so let’s see how it goes. But a really great start.”
