Joe Cole has been discussing the Premier League relegation battle with Nottingham Forest firmly in trouble at the moment, fighting to remain in the division.
Forest face Brighton today with a huge chance to put daylight between them and the relegation zone after West Ham and Leeds were both beaten on Saturday.
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It’s been a turbulent season for Forest with the Reds now on their fourth manager of the campaign and the end really can’t come soon enough for the club.
Cole has already fought the corner of his former club, West Ham, believing they will have enough to stay up and now he’s been quizzed on Forest too.
Nottingham Forest head coach Vitor Pereira.
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Joe Cole thinks Evangelos Marinakis would be at fault for Nottingham Forest relegation
It’s hard to imagine Forest going down this season, but that is the realistic proposition which needs addressing.
Cole thinks Marinakis would have to take responsibility if the chaos of this season leads to Forest being relegated, with four new managers naturally causing a lot of imbalance.
He said on TNT Sports: “And ultimately, it’s the owners; it’s on him now. He changed the manager four times. If the club go down, it’s because of mismanagement from above this year. You can’t label it at Pereira or Dyche or Ange or Nuno. So, it’s on him. He’s gambled. He’s thrown the dice.”
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Forest have to start turning performances into results and after several winless games in succession, it’s now vital that the Reds put on a show at Brighton.
Marinakis would have to take slice of the blame if Forest go down
It goes without saying that the emphasis will be on the owner if Forest succumbs to relegation this season after a chaos-fuelled campaign that has been a disaster from start to finish.
That said, Marinakis does have some credit in the bank, given what he’s actually achieved in almost 10 years steering Forest back to the Premier League and keeping the club there.
Relegation would be a disaster, and the ideal situation now involves Forest managing to keep their top-flight status intact and then pushing the reset button in the summer and starting all over again.
Marinakis will be hoping that Pereira can be the man to avert the relegation threat and hopefully, Cole doesn’t have to pick someone to blame in the summer, with Forest remaining at the top table.
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