Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis looked on like a general as his team threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 against fellow promoted side Bournemouth on Saturday.
The Greek sat in the stands at the City Ground glaring down as his players took on another of the new sides to the Premier League, currently led by caretaker manager Gary O’Neil after Scott Parker‘s sacking.
When Forest won promotion via the play-offs in May, following a top-flight absence of 23 years, the shipping magnate and media mogul promised fans he would give their team the ‘ammunition’ to deliver success.
Nottingham Forest have spent more than £160million in the summer transfer window in 2022
Club’s owner Evangelos Marinakis has bankrolled the club in a bid to survive in the top flight
Despite a good performance in a 2-0 defeat against Tottenham last weekend, Marinakis must have been frustrated with his side’s recent showings, with a 6-0 thrashing by Manchester City on Wednesday followed up by the Cherries loss.
The owner has certainly put his money where his mouth is, spending an eye-popping £163.4million on transfers, which is a record for a team newly promoted to the Premier League.
With 21 new arrivals, one wonders if Marinakis – and the fans – even recognise all those now wearing the Garibaldi red of his East Midlands outfit. Of the 16 players involved against Spurs, 10 were recent recruits.
Forest’s spending has outstripped Barcelona this summer, despite the Spanish side spending over £40m on Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde, respectively, and £52m on Raphinha
Remarkably, Forest spent more on transfers than all of the clubs in the Eredivisie combined
Fans across the country, if not Europe, have been stunned by Forest’s transfer business. The most startling acquisition was Morgan Gibbs-White, bought from Wolves for an initial fee of £25m, but a sum that could rise to £42.5m with achievable add-ons and further bonuses.
The spending spree continued deep into deadline day. Willy Boly was a late arrival, eventually signing a two-year deal at the City Ground for a reported fee of £2.25m following a five-year spell at Molineux, having joined Wolves permanently in 2018.
Josh Bowler became Nottingham Forest’s 20th arrival of the summer after the club agreed a deal with Blackpool to sign the winger for around £2m. The 23-year-old will be sent to Forest’s sister club Olympiacos on loan.
Defender Loic Bade also completed his…