Nottingham Forest FC have announced the take-over of the
club by a consortium headed by Evangelos M. Marinakis, a Greek
shipowner, businessman and owner of Greek champions Olympiacos FC, and
Sokratis Kominakis, a Greek businessman and investor, previously a
senior executive with several multinational corporations. The completion
of the purchase of 100% of the club’s shares follows the EFL’s review
of the business plan submitted for the club. The EFL conducted an
Owners’ and Directors’ test and concluded that none of the persons who
would be Relevant Persons are liable to be disqualified under the test.
Biographies:
The owners formed an English company, NF Football
Investments Ltd., in order to provide full transparency when they
purchased the shares formerly owned by the Kuwaiti Al-Hasawi family. “Our
intention is to keep Nottingham Forest thoroughly embedded in English
football culture. We are therefore proud to announce the appointment of
Nicholas Randall, QC, one of the leading sports lawyers in England, to
the club’s board. Nicholas knows the football industry like few others
and has accepted an offer to join the club as its Chairman”, Marinakis said.
The
President of Olympiacos FC, and now the new majority owner of
Nottingham Forest FC, has close ties to England. He attended high school
and university in England and started his successful career in
international shipping in London before he bought the Greek champions in
2010. Olympiacos, founded in 1925, is the biggest and most successful
club in Greek football history, having won 44 League titles, 27 Greek
Cups and 4 Greek Super Cups. They finished the current season as League
Champions for the seventh time in a row under Marinakis’ leadership.
Under Marinakis, Olympiacos have achieved the highest positions in
Europe in its history: they are listed among the top 25 clubs in Europe
today.
“What we have achieved in national
and European football with Olympiacos FC, we want to duplicate with
Nottingham Forest. Forest is one of England’s oldest clubs and one with a
proud history of national and international excellence. Our objective
is to bring back the glory days. We are football people to the core and
we love and know the game. Our team has demonstrated that we know how to
create success in football by having won title after title with
Olympiacos in Greek football”, said Marinakis. “We want to
rekindle Forest’s past success and we are committed to the club for the
long-term. What the club needs is a solid and time-tested management, a
professional board, and above all, the best possible football management
and players. Our senior team will be Nicholas Randall QC as Chairman,
Ioannis Vrentzos as CEO, Samantha Gordon as CFO, and David Cook as CCO,
and they will deliver just that.
“Furthermore,
we believe that in Mark Warburton and his team the right people were
selected to take the club forward on the pitch by delivering the passing
game that the club’s supporters love, and for which Nottingham Forest
are known and remembered throughout the world. We will provide Mark and
his team with the time and support necessary to rebuild the team and
create the conditions for success. In this regard I am pleased to
confirm that we have agreed a contract extension for Frank McParland as
Sport Director. The players performed magnificently in the crucial match
against Ipswich Town and the way they responded to and implemented
Mark’s game plan is a credit to the environment he has created. But the
fans are one of the club’s most important assets: in recognition of the
exceptional role played by all fans who stood by the club through
difficult times, we have decided to reduce the price for season tickets
for the next season to make it more affordable to local fans. It is
crucial for the club to give back to fans as this is a joint effort to
bring back success.
"In a further step
towards honouring Nottingham Forest’s past, we shall bring back as many
people as possible, in particular of course former players, who played a
decisive role in building Forest’s legacy. They deserve our respect and
we want to make them part of our collective effort to rebuild this
exceptional club”, Marinakis said.
A new approach
Nottingham
Forest FC will seek to become the model club in England for fan and
community participation. The club’s new board and management will launch
two ambitious and inclusive initiatives this summer.
For
one, and because Nottingham and the region are home to excellent
universities, fan representatives and delegates of the tertiary
institutions will be invited to form an Advisory Council. The chair of
the Council will participate regularly in board meetings as an Observer
and offer hands-on input and advice gathered through the Advisory
Council meetings.
Going one step further, and
recognising the crucial relevance of young fans and potential supporters
for the club’s development, Nottingham Forest FC will launch the
Nottingham Forest Youth Council, whose chair will be representing the
views and aspirations of Nottingham’s youth to the Nottingham Forest
board.
Club Chairman Nicholas Randall, QC will
be in charge of both initiatives and will outline the details well
before the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
Mr. Marinakis said “Nottingham
Forest’s supporters have been magnificent in a difficult season and now
my Management Team want their voices to be heard and include their
input in our decision-making. These forums will make that possible for
the first time and in a meaningful way.”
Biographies:
Owners
Mr Evangelos M Marinakis
is the Founder and Chairman of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp.
Marinakis is named in the Lloyd’s List “One Hundred Most Influential
People in the Shipping Industry”. Since August 2010 he became the
majority owner and President of Olympiacos FC. He is also experienced in
the governance of football in his role as Vice President of the
Hellenic Football Federation and President of Superleague Greece. A
passionate football fan and a believer in how important a role the
sport, and especially a cub, can have as a force for good in the
community. Marinakis has also been active in local politics and was
elected as Member of the Piraeus City Council.
Mr Sokratis Kominakis
has been one of the most successful managers serving at top managerial
positions in renowned multinational companies like Procter & Gamble,
Kraft, Vodafone, and TIM. He became CEO of TIM Hellas in 2004 at the
age of 36 (the youngest CEO in a major telecoms company at the time
according to FT). After successfully leading the sale of TIM Hellas from
Telecom Italia to a group of private equity investors and 2.5 years
later to Weather Investments, he resigned from the CEO position at the
end of 2008 and he set up an investment consulting firm, Milos Advisors
S.A., which advised big international private equity funds on their
investments in Greece and the Balkans region. He is an active investor
himself in many sectors but primarily shipping and real estate. Please
also note that he was vice president of Olympiacos between July 2010 and
May 2011.
Senior Team
Mr Nicholas Randall QC
was called to the bar in 1990 and was appointed as Queen’s Counsel in
2013. He is recognized as a leading sports lawyer in the independent
legal directories. He is a member of the Premier League Disputes Panel
and sits regularly as an Arbitrator. He is described as the “go to” Silk
for football related cases. His past clients cover the full breadth of
football related activity and have included Sir Bobby Robson, Kevin
Keegan, Roy Keane, George Graham, David O’Leary, the LMA, the PFA as
well as numerous clubs, players and agents.
Mr Ioannis Vrentzos
has extensive senior level experience across the investment banking,
finance and football sectors. He has been Managing Director of
Olympiacos since 2010 and has overseen the restructuring of the club and
implementation of a strategy that makes Olympiacos one of the most
successful and financially secure clubs in Europe. As CEO of Nottingham
Forest he will be moving to Nottingham to run the club. He will be
required to lead the senior management team in the implementation of a
sound organisational structure, embedding a culture of high performance
and delivering NFFI’s key objectives.
Ms Samantha Gordon
enjoys significant experience of managing the finances of a football
club with similar ambitions to Nottingham Forest as she spent seven
years with Norwich City, including managing their transition from the
Championship to the Premier League. She has a proven track record of
financial turnaround of a football club, having cleared £21m of external
debt whilst simultaneously achieving promotion from League One to the
Premier League. Her extensive board-level experience in the sports
sector will ensure she will assist Nottingham Forest to achieve NFFI’s
objectives whilst complying with financial fair play regulations.
Mr David Cook
will join the club as Chief Commercial Officer. David is a sports
marketing specialist with experience concluding some of the biggest
commercial deals in the sports sector. Since September 2012, David has
held the position of Senior Sponsorship Manager at Etihad Airways. In
this role, David has responsibility for devising the company’s global
sponsorship strategy and negotiating all commercial partnerships for the
airline. He has concluded multi-million dollar sponsorship agreements
around the world and in football, cricket, motorsport and fashion.
Previous to his role with Etihad Airways, David was Head of Business
Development at Celtic F.C. where he delivered substantial revenue growth
for the club. Additionally David held the position of International
Business Development Manager at Everton F.C. David’s experience makes
him perfectly placed to help transform Nottingham Forest’s commercial
offerings, introduce new revenue streams and internationalise the club’s
brand, all in accordance with NFFI’s vision for the club.
advertisement
InFrame by Brave Bison
Related Articles
-
17 May 2017
Worrall focused on future Forest Player HD caught up with Nottingham Forest defender Jo... -
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια :
Δημοσίευση σχολίου