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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Luke Pawley

Simon Jordan sends Evangelos Marinakis message to Steve Cooper amid Nottingham Forest speculation

Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has urged Steve Cooper to reciprocate the loyalty shown to him by Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis.

The comments come after reports suggested Forest head coach Steve Cooper is the subject of interest from clubs like Tottenham, Chelsea and Leeds ahead of next season. Speaking about the interest on talkSPORT, Jordan insisted Cooper should reward Marinakis after the Reds owner went "against the norm" by keeping him in post when the team were struggling and handing out a new contract.

"There should be some reciprocation in terms of the loyalty," Jordan said. "I do think it was right for Nottingham Forest to give him a new contract because, quite frankly, he dragged them out of the division after 23 years of being away from the Premier League.

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"He took them from where Chris Hughton left them, which was bottom of the Championship, and put them in the Premier League. He deserved the opportunity that he got to be in the Premier League.

"If you know your manager and believe in your manager, when the time comes where the conventional thinking in football is 'you're in trouble' and you do something different, what you do then is galvanise that manager. You make him more appreciative of the environment he has, and he goes that extra 10%. That might already have been forthcoming anyway, but you do something against the norm, and you get something back.

"Is he a potential manager for the future? Yeah. But, in terms of bigger football clubs, I don't think he needs to leave Nottingham Forest any time soon. First of all: the guy that owns the football club is incredibly committed. He's just converted another 50 million quid's worth of loans into equity, which is the same thing in different guise, but it shows an indication he's more committed to the football club than wanting to get paid out by selling it.

"The guy told you, in an emotional outburst after the play-off final against Huddersfield: 'I want to win things with this football club'. That's the owner, so he's laid his little stake down."

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