Evangelos Marinakis says he has the power of mantiké. The gift of divination, which the ancient Greeks attributed to a long saga of wise men from Tiresias to the Sibyl, is the faculty that this rotund man who, at 58, is the owner of Nottingham Forest, likes to boast about.
Thanks to the insight to visualize the future, according to what he tells his closest collaborators, he is able to determine if a coach is going to succeed or fail. It is enough for him to attend one or two training sessions. This is what he did last year when, after firing Nuno Espírito Santo, he hired Agne Postecoglou. After observing two practices he determined that Postecoglou would never win anything at Forest. “I'm going to have to fire him,” he warned, according to a club employee.
He signed Postecoglou on September 9 and if he did not fire him before October 18 it was because he could not find a quicker replacement. On October 21, he hired Sean Dyche and on February 15, Vítor Pereira, whom he fired last summer. Four coaches in one season to move on to the next chapter: Oliver Glasner. The fit for Marinakis. Appointed on July 6, he has been virtually dismissed for weeks but still holds the position for legal-financial reasons. Ready, perhaps, to give everything in the coda of their adventure this Saturday: Manchester City visits the City Ground in Nottingham (6:30 p.m., Dazn) and the Premier holds its breath. A defeat would pave Arsenal's way to a second successive title.
Oliver Glasner believes he should never have found himself in this situation. The vain German coach was the man of fashion a year ago in London. He had won the English Cup with Crystal Palace and the list of clubs in the top 10 in Europe that were interested in him was astonishing: Bayern, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool... Glasner, who had a contract, wanted to negotiate his departure from Palace, but the leaders called him to order. They would never sell him, they told him, before June 2026. If they had not sold Guehi, Mateta and Warton, much less him. Not even for 20 million. When Chelsea fired Maresca on January 1, the first candidate to replace him was Glasner. His appeal grew until April. Then the Palace dried up. They remained without a win for seven Premier games. The game on display transmitted such bad vibes that Glasner was warned by his agent: he had to forget about the Conference League and concentrate on the Premier because the offers he previously had on the table were beginning to be withdrawn.
Fate pushed Glasner into the trap. His great coaching skills always flourished in knockout competitions. He built his prestige by winning the Europa League with Eintracht in 2022, cemented it by lifting the FA Cup in 2025, and turned to the Conference in 2026. But the victory against Rayo in the Leipzig final did not produce the desired effect. As his agent warned him, the big clubs had measured him for his work in the Premier League. And there, the play shown by Palace scared all the scouts. United preferred to continue with Carrick; Chelsea hired Alonso; and Liverpool opted for Iraola.
Glasner, who had convinced himself that his destiny would be a European great, was resigning himself to the sabbatical when Marinakis appeared on his phone screen. Seduced by the German's reputation, convinced that he was still on the agendas of Chelsea, United and Liverpool, the Piraeus playmaker offered him the third highest salary on the Premier bench: nearly 12 million euros net per season until 2029. Glasner responded yes. But, warned by the reputation as a liquidator that preceded the Greek, he imposed a condition: that he guarantee a shield clause. The agents consulted on this point estimate that it must be a fortune. “They must be in the order of 40 or 50 million euros,” they say. “Otherwise, Marinakis would have fired him by now.”
Four players of more than 100 million
With Glasner, Nottingham Forest sinks. They are second to last in the Premier League, one point behind Sunderland. The news coming from the club speaks of a state close to hysteria. Marinakis is desperate to fire the German but it pains him to have to pay him such a high severance package. The owner of Capital Maritime, a true maritime transport empire, whose net assets are estimated at 7,000 million euros, is torn between striking out and waiting.
It is told behind the scenes by “the Greeks”, as the English Forest employees call them. They are his most confidential collaborators, the team made up of Theodore Giannikos, the CEO, George Syrianos, the technical director, and Christos Akkas, the advisor. True priests of the Marinakis sanctuary, interpreters of his visions and first beneficiaries of his hilarious performances in one of the most esoteric management frameworks in world football. When they talk about their boss in private, they affectionately refer to him as “Pavarotti.” The physical resemblance to the tenor is shocking. And Pavarotti, they say, has never been faced with a dilemma like the one Glasner presents to him.
Marinakis enjoys great prestige in the Premier. When he bought Forest in 2017, the club was a zombie institution. First he saved him from relegation to Third Division, then he promoted him and consolidated him in the Premier. He put together the squad of players who are valued at over 100 million euros such as Anderson, Murillo, Igor Jesús and Gibbs-White. In the 2024-25 season it was about to qualify for the Champions League. His advisors repeat it: Marinakis is convinced that his project will culminate in winning the Premier League and the Champions League. His prophecy has been issued. But the contrast with reality is worse than acid. The penultimate place in the table is unbearable.
Marinakis' desperation multiplies Glasner's sense of survival. They say at Forest that the players have nothing against the coach, but they don't quite understand him. The things he tells them will happen in games, tactically, don't end up happening. They have lost confidence and Glasner, when he looks tight, usually cuts corners. In emergency situations it becomes one of the world's largest manufacturers of catenaccios. With a little success, he is able to transform the Forest area into Tripitz's Bunker.
Guardiola's orphans
The unknown awaits Manchester City. The team led by Enzo Maresca has gone from leading the Premier with more results than games to being surpassed by PSG (2-4), Aston Villa (2-1) and Brighton in the League Cup (2-2) and in the League (0-1). His performance on Wednesday against Leipzig (2-3) in the Champions League evoked problems that he has had since the summer: lack of rhythm, distraction, and excessive dependence on Haaland who has stopped participating in the interplay to limit himself to the role of finisher. Although in recent weeks he has shown signs of recovery, he will need all his talent to win in Nottingham. The incentive is clear. If they lose, Arsenal could get within six points. A distance capable of activating the fuse of anguish in the City locker room. The memory of Guardiola's departure has left a feeling of orphanhood that Maresca manages with difficulty.
“Arsenal's six-point lead is not the same with Guardiola as the pursuer as it is with Maresca,” warns a person close to the Kroenkes, Arsenal's owners. "Six points ahead with Guardiola at City would be like being tied on points; but six points ahead with Maresca is like having a 24-point cushion."
