An EFL chairman launched a strong defence of Nottingham Forest’s recruitment drive as he lavished praise on head coach Steve Cooper and the club’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis.
After winning promotion from the Championship, Forest signed a host of new players and recently set a record for the most debuts given by a club in the single Premier League season.
The Reds struggled for results early on, with Cooper’s position coming under increasing scrutiny at one stage. However, owner Marinakis’s decision to stick with the Welshman has been vindicated, with the Reds rising to 13th in the table, six places above the relegation zone.
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And Forest’s approach has been lauded by Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony, who discussed the Reds on his latest The Hard Truth podcast
“Look at Forest, they are flying now, and fair play to them,” said MacAnthony, whose side are just outside the play-offs in League One. “The Forest hierarchy have had a lot of criticism but they’ve still stood by their manager.
“Yes, they’ve signed a lot of players. I’m sick of reading people joking about it, ‘oh they’ve signed another player’. They’re a Premier League club, they knew they needed major construction. It was a big job and Steve Cooper has done an absolutely magnificent job. They’ll stay up.”
When the podcast host said it would have been easier for the Reds to sack Cooper, MacAnthony replied: “One hundred per cent but fair play to the ownership, fair play to him and fair play to the Forest players, they’re tough to beat at home.
“And that’s what you’ve got to do to sustain it in the Premier League, winning at home, clean sheets at home.”
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