Nottingham Forest want to be “disruptors”, says chief executive Lina Souloukou.
Souloukou was a keynote speaker on ‘challenging the elite’ at the Financial Times Business in Football Summit, alongside Aston Villa’s president of business operations Francesco Calvo and Newcastle United chief executive David Hopkinson.
All three discussed the long-term strategies they are putting into place in an attempt to increase sporting and financial competitiveness.
Responding to the huge challenges Forest face competing with clubs with greater financial power, Souloukou said: “We always have conversations at a stakeholder level about (financial) distribution, being domestically or European-wise, about calendar or other common challenges.
“But I think, you know, focusing the conversation on how we dismantle the success of others is not the right path for us.
“We have the ambition to run well our clubs and try to, you know, achieve, be disruptors or more established.”
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Forest have already threatened to disrupt the Premier League order as they challenged for a top-five finish and qualification for the Champions League for much of last season before ultimately finishing in seventh place.
Owner Evangelos Marinakis has made clear his ambition to restore the club to being an established force in both the top-flight and in Europe.
Souloukou believes a “balanced” approach to investing in all parts of the club, which Marinakis has proven committed to doing, is key.
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“You need to invest in tangible assets like the stadium, the training centre, everything around that because this again is performance multipliers,” she added.
“And in terms of enterprise value, what I'm speaking about is also something really important.
“But at the same time, it's core business. So, and in a way, we are clubs that we're actually aspiring to continue growing.
“So you cannot do that if you don't do smart recruitment and a proper sports organisation plan and be really disciplined the way you manage contracts and players' recruitment.”
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