Nottingham Forest’s recruitment chiefs’ heads are apparently on the chopping block after the club’s mammoth £150 million (€172m) summer spend.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is allegedly set to take drastic action by axing some of the key men behind their summer transfer window after the squad’s appalling start to the season.
Steve Cooper is reportedly fighting to retain his job after losing five successive Premier League matches and apparently a decision will most likely be made on his future within the next 48 hours.
Marinakis’ scrutiny is now on the recruitment team as well as on chief executive Dane Murphy as massive changes are expected before Forest’s next game against Aston Villa.
Remarkably, 22 players were signed following Forest’s promotion from the Championship, but, alas, many of them have failed to lived up to expectations. The understanding now is that futures of both the head of recruitment George Syrianos and head of scouting Andy Scott are looking dubious and could leave the club anytime this week.
Syrianos joined Forest from Stuttgart before the start of last season while Scott, who has previously worked at Watford, Brentford and Swansea, was appointed in January this year.
Murphy was hired from Barnsley last year and could be replaced by former Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley, who currently holds an advisory role at the City Ground.
Meanwhile, on a parallel axis, Marinakis’ son Miltiadis has assumed a more significant role at Forest and wassaid to be heavily involved in the signing of former Manchester United ace Jesse Lingard.
However, Syrianos and Scott were the ones primarily in charge of recruitment and are now standing directly in the line of fire as Marinakis conducts a review of why the club’s season has started so badly.
Cooper, meanwhile, is under intense pressure with the club bottom of the table, while Rafael Benitez has emerged as a potential replacement if Cooper is dismissed.