A financial expert has weighed in on Nottingham Forest’s recent change to its board of directors.
A filing on the Companies House website reveals that Mr. Sokratis Kominakis is no longer a director of the club. The official document is listed as “termination of a director appointment.”
Kominakis, who is a co-owner of the Reds, was part of the consortium led by Evangelos Marinakis that took over the club in May 2017.
The most probable reason for this change is that Forest are preparing to adhere to UEFA competition regulations. This comes amid the possibility that both Forest and Olympiacos, another club owned by Marinakis, could be competing in European football next season. UEFA rules prohibit clubs under the same ownership or with shared directors from participating in the same European competition.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s team currently sits third in the Premier League table.
Discussing the change, former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson told Football Insider: “I think it’s very hard to read too much into something like that without any background insight.
“I think it’s just impossible to guess what it’s about, to be honest. I don’t know the deep relationship between Kominakis and Marinakis.
“It’s possible it could be connected to both Forest and Olympiacos being in Europe next season. But if the ultimate ownership is still Marinakis, it’s not going to make a difference whether one director moves.
“This is complete speculation, but maybe what they’ve done is agreed to move all of the ownership of Olympiacos into the hands of Kominakis and all of the ownership of Forest, with no cross directorships maybe.
“But then Marinakis would presumably have resigned from Olympiacos. We might not know whether he has or not. But one of the teams will have to go into a blind trust like what has happened with Man City and Girona if they’re both in the Champions League.
“They will have to make some provision for it, but it’s probably one to watch.”
Forest have seen several behind-the-scenes changes in recent months. Nicholas Randall KC was reappointed as chairman in October after his successor, Tom Cartledge, stepped down from the role.
Additionally, Lina Souloukou officially assumed the position of chief executive last month. Souloukou has previously worked with Marinakis at Olympiacos.
With Kominakis no longer listed as a director on the club’s official website, the City Ground board now consists of Randall, Ioannis Vrentzos, and non-executive directors Jonny Owen, Simon Forster, and Michael Dugher. The latter was appointed to the board in November when Cartledge’s departure was announced.
