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FootBiz newsletter #100: Nottingham Forest's creative tension may prove costly for someone
PLUS: It's FootBiz's first anniversary this week, and we want your input
Ed Malyon & Matt Hughes
August 26, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
Having endured a summer of social media clips and friends describing it as the best night of their life etc etc, it is finally my turn to get to see Oasis this week (twice, in fact) as they continue their reunion tour that is, in cultural terms, the equivalent of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour but for lightly greying men (only at the sides. Ok, maybe a couple at the front) who remember what a Nokia 3310 is.
After decades of publicly demonstrated antipathy towards each other, turning down offers and pleas to reunite, eventually the sums on offer to the Gallagher brothers became significant enough for them to bury the hatchet and go on the road together. Noel Gallagher even had some vaguely kind words about his brother this week, though reporting from Popbitch, an influential, mischievous purveyor of showbiz gossip, suggested that the group is currently employing three tour managers — one for each brother and another for the band — to keep the peace and the brothers leave the gig in separate cars. It was never going to be all sunshine and rainbows.
Noel and Liam, like some couples I know who seem to get a thrill out of constantly sparking into fiery confrontations, thrive on tension. And there is a school of thought that creativity and innovation truly requires conflict to elevate it, or accelerate it.
Whether it’s Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, John Lennon and Paul McCartney or Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane, you can achieve great things in spite of but also because of a combustible interpersonal situation.
Noel and Liam Gallagher’s unlikely reunion has sparked a cultural moment
For Nottingham Forest, that would be the optimistic take on developments over the weekend as Nuno Espirito Santo’s fracturing relationship with the club’s hierarchy took centre-stage.
There had been whispers of trouble behind the scenes during pre-season, but nothing concrete.
So when Nuno decided to publicly comment on the decline of his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis, it triggered something of an outpouring of all those stories.
Daniel Taylor, a Forest fan who counts on deep contacts at the club, was quickly out of the gate with a story on Nuno’s unhappiness at the City Ground but the central figure was not Marinakis so much as Edu Gaspar.
While Marinakis has long attracted controversy — as well as a banner at Selhurst Park on Sunday that is now being investigated by the authorities — the Greek enjoyed a strong relationship with Nuno, talking nearly every day as the Portuguese coach dragged Forest up the table and into the European positions.
The easiest turning point to highlight would be Marinakis storming onto the field to confront his coach after the 2-2 draw with rivals Leicester City. As Taylor reveals, however, the core of the issue has actually been Edu and Nuno’s relationship (or lack thereof) which is described as “potentially irreparable” with the Brazilian now staying away from the training ground to avoid further conflict.
Marinakis’ relationship with Nuno has worsened
Given Edu — then Arsenal sporting director — was seen as a significant coup by Marinakis when he agreed to become CEO of his multi-club group, all the forces surrounding this rupture are fairly unlikely to end up in Nuno winning out.
No surprise, then, that reports began to emerge on Friday that despite leading them to the Europa League (via CAS) Nuno’s job was under review. Forest told journalists this wasn’t the case, but the former goalkeeper has never been shy of confrontation and lit the fuse during his press conference by revealing the fractured bond between he and his club’s owner a couple of hours later.
After the 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace on Sunday, Nuno did what any self-respecting coach with a long-term contract should do and insisted he would never quit. “Absurd” he said — as indeed it would be to give up all that potential compensation. But when asked if he’d still be in charge in September he said he could not answer the question, recognising his own mortality and the dire interpersonal situation playing out on the Trent.
But there is a positive twist. For one, Nuno publicly acknowledged that he thinks the relationship with ownership can be fixed (though no mention of Edu on that front) and, should the full-backs he is so vocally desperate for soon arrive, there could a chance of peace breaking out in Nottingham.
Muddling through the season with such an atmosphere won’t be easy but one former executive at the club has suggested the environment has always been combative and turbulent since Marinakis bought the club in 2017 but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “It hasn’t stopped Forest’s rise,” they told FootBiz.
Forest could go deep in Europe, they’ve invested in their squad and have four points from two games with a good shot of looking upwards domestically. For Nuno, staying and trying to make it work must be tempting.
His actions on Friday and since suggest he is willing to explode the situation though. After the debacle at Spurs, Nuno would at least leave with a successful stint on his CV and presumably interest from other clubs in the coming months if he does force the hand of the Forest hierarchy. He won’t walk away, but increasingly the issues feel like Oasis’ 2009 bust-up in Paris that started the long wait for this reunion.
Marinakis could soon be looking to the future, while Nuno looks back in anger.
This week marks a year of FootBiz, and we’ve learned a lot about what our subscribers do and don’t like. We’ll be making a couple of changes and bringing on a few new sponsors, so don’t hesitate to get in touch if that’s something of interest.
But the most immediate change is that we’ll be paywalling all the newsletters, though we will still giving away the top for free. Well, the intro and maybe a story or two.
As ever, please also don’t hesitate to get in touch with any feedback. I know a few subs who like to debate topics or suggest uncovered stories, and that’s been a great extra avenue for us to communicate as we try to build the perfect product for readers.
That is, after all, the whole point of this.
