Nottingham Forest’s 2024-25 campaign has been nothing short of astonishing.
Tipped to be in the relegation ‘dogfight’ again, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have exceeded all expectations by putting themselves in the race for Champions League football.
Rightly so, a number of their players have received strong media attention after impressive performance. Morgan Gibbs-White is widely regarded as The Reds most influential player, whilst talismanic striker Chris Wood is having a career-best Premier League season with 18 goals.
Yesterday’s 1-0 victory over champions Manchester City was another clear showing of Forest’s quality and togetherness, Callum Hudson-Odoi striking in the 83rd minute to claim all three points for the home side.
A lot of the post-match plaudits were aimed in the direction of Gibbs-White. He notched his sixth Premier League assist of the season with a raking cross-field ball into the path of Hudson-Odoi.
But former Manchester United and legendary Premier League centre-back, Rio Ferdinand, who was on punditry duties for TNT Sport, sent his praise toward another key figure.
Rio Ferdinand full of praise for Evangelos Marinakis
In trademark post-victory fashion, Nottingham Forest’s owner Evangelos Marinakis stood at the end of the tunnel hugging and shaking the hands of every single Forest player.
Ferdinand believes it was a strong showing of the unity at the club, and sang the praises of Marinakis in TNT’s post-match discussion.
‘Components like this knit it all together’, said Ferdinand, ‘there’s a real family environment here’.
The six-time Premier League champion also joked that Forest’s players ‘will be getting more than pats on the back if they qualify [for the Champions League]’.
Morgan Gibbs-White also has love for Marinakis
It is clearly a two-way love between the Forest players and Marinakis, as star man Gibbs-White took to Instagram to share a picture of himself being embraced by the Greek.
This image will be a welcome sight for Forest fans, with Gibbs-White reportedly attracting interest from the country’s biggest clubs. In January, Liverpool were thought to be taking a keen interest in the former Wolves man.
Despite being under contract until 2027, another impressive season for Gibbs-White will only increase the number of clubs chasing his signature. But, seeing his evidently close relationship with the owner is likely to ease fears of a departure.
And it’s not just Gibbs-White who is a fan of Marinakis. After a last-gasp win over Aston Villa back in December, Ola Aina was seen mobbing the owner in the tunnel, calling him ‘the big boss’.
Marinakis has played a huge role in making the City Ground both a fortress and a clearly harmonious place to work.
Forest fans will be hoping to see similar scenes of jubilation in the tunnel come the end of the season. With the way the squad is currently performing, there is no reason why they can’t finish in the top four.
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