Nottingham Forest still didn’t have enough. It was the last hours of the transfer period, the club had already bought 21 players, the clubless Serge Aurier was to follow, but they also wanted Michy Batshuayi. Ultimately, he would have been number 23, the third new centre-forward. According to rumours, the move failed because the releasing club Chelsea FC did not submit the necessary documents in good time.
This episode may be of some importance in understanding what happened this week. Nottingham, winners of the European Cup in 1979 and 1980 and promoted to the Premier League after a 23-year absence, were the most conspicuous club of the summer break: 22 new players, at least one from all top leagues in Europe, cost the equivalent of more than 160 million euros. After nine matchdays, Nottingham is now penultimate. And with the chief scout Andy Scott, the squad planner George Syrianos was released – so far without official notification, the names are simply missing on the website.
The native of Starnberg Syrianos, 32, previously chief analyst at VfB Stuttgart and in Nottingham since 2021, contributed his expertise as a data specialist to the composition of the promotion squad. Four newcomers from the Bundesliga (Taiwo Awoniyi, Orel Mangala, Omar Richards, Moussa Niakhaté) also point to his influence in 2022, but how much Syrianos’ work was in putting together the current squad is now disputed: The Athletic reports that Miltiadis Marinakis, the son of notorious owner Evangelos Marinakis, who also owns Olympiacos Piraeus, played a role in late August transfers. According to the report, Syrianos wanted to prevent Marinakis’ plan to bring in Batshuayi shortly before the end of the transfer – and that was probably not the only transfer that took place without the approval of the squad planning department.
Now, according to rumours, the club could soon be without managing director Dane Murphy, who is said to be demanding outstanding payments from the club. But a new sports director, Filippo Giraldi, has come for a few days. The promotion coach Steve Cooper, who is popular with the fans and names have already been circulating for his successor, surprisingly extended his contract. He may have to integrate the next additions in winter.