Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper says there was nothing in the statement by owner Evangelos Marinakis which came as a surprise to him.
Following speculation about the Welshman’s future amid an eight-match winless run, the club publicly backed their manager. Marinakis said he wanted to put an end to the rumours by confirming Cooper remained in charge.
The Greek businessman included the warning that results and performances need to improve “immediately” as the Reds battle to avoid relegation. But that came as nothing new to the man in the hot seat.
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“I have constant dialogue with the owner, so something coming out publicly, there was nothing in there that was a surprise to me,” Cooper said, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa. “The club were annoyed with some articles being written before games and on match days, and they felt they wanted to put an end to that.
“They were articles that didn’t really bother me, if I'm being honest. If they do, don’t do this job.
“We're all prone to stuff like this, none of us are immune to it - and that's absolutely fine. I always try to focus on what’s important, that is trying to play much better than we did the other night and win more games than we’ve been winning.
“With regards to picking up points and winning games, that didn't need to be in the statement. We know that already. They are conversations myself, the staff, the players and everyone else have been having. It is something we are trying to put right.
“Maybe there was some information to go out there publicly. But strip it all back, we need to play better than what we did the other night and we need to win more games than we have been winning. That has always been my focus. It still is.
“The conversations with the owner are private. All I can say, and as I’ve said before, it’s been pretty normal in terms of the amount of communication I’ve had with Mr Marinakis. I speak to Filippo (Giraldi, sporting director) every day, because we both work out of the training ground.
“There's always dialogue after a game and some calls after games. There’s never anything before, they’re very respectful of letting us do our job - and we are grateful for that.
“Whether he is at the games or not, we speak about whatever we feel needs to be spoken about. That was the same after Leeds.”
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