Dancing With The Europeans
This has been a somewhat confusing season for Nottingham Forest, as they are battling against relegation from the Premier League (for the third time in the four seasons since promotion), but have reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Managerial Changes
The chaos is highlighted by the fact that they have had no fewer than four managers this season. The popular Nuno Espirito Santo left after a fallout over recruitment strategy with sporting director Edu in September, to be replaced by a very different coach in the shape of “Big” Ange Postecoglou.
However, the Attack-minded Australian lasted less than two months, before another spectacular shift to Sean Dyche, famed for his focus on defence. He lasted four months, before he was also shown the door, handing the poisoned chalice to Vitor Pereira, who led Wolves to safety last season.
2024/25 Season
The current trials and tribulations are in stark contrast to 2024/25, when Forest finished in an impressive seventh place, which earned them qualification for the Europa League.
This was the first time that Forest had secured European football in 30 years, so the club was fully justified in describing this as a “hugely successful and exciting campaign”.
On top of that, they reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they were beaten by Manchester City, though crashed out of the Carabao Cup in the second round.
League Position
This represented a significant improvement on the previous season, when Forest finished 17th, one place above the relegation zone, though that was still a bit of an achievement, as they had suffered a 4-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Their fans believed that justice had been done, as Forest did enough on the pitch to ensure survival, while others might argue that theri survival was only made possible by the financial excesses that resulted in the club failing to comply with the PSR targets.
Whatever your point of view, Forest deserve congratulations on the substantial progress made since Evangelos Marinakis became the club’s majority shareholder in May 2017. The Olympiacos owner has an 80% stake with the other 20% held by his associate Sokratis Kominakis.
At that point Forest had just finished a lowly 21st in the Championship, narrowly avoiding relegation to League One on goal difference, but there has been steady improvement since then, leading to promotion to England’s top flight in 2021/22, when they defeated Huddersfield Town in the play-off final.
However, football fans have short memories, so the focus now will be on whether Forest can avoid relegation.
Clearly, the club’s finances have dramatically changed during their time in the Premier League, so let’s take a look at their accounts for the 2024/25 season, which saw Forest “continue their progress”.
Profit/(Loss) 2024/25
Despite the improvement on the pitch, Forest swung from a £12m pre-tax profit to a £79m loss, which represented a £91m decline, largely due to a significant decrease in profit from player sales, which dropped from £101m to just £7m.
More positively, revenue rose £32m (17%) from £190m to £222m, which was a big new club record, though this was largely offset by a steep increase in operating expenses, which were up £24m (9%) from £263m to £287m, while net interest payable was up £6m (38%) from £15m to £21m.
All of Forest’s main revenue streams were higher, most notably broadcasting, which shot up £29m (22%) from £130m to £159m, thanks to the much better league position.
In addition, commercial was up by around a third, increasing by £9m from £30m to £39m, while gate receipts rose £6m (41%) from £14m to £20m.
However, player loans fell £11m (72%) from £15m to £4m.
Forest continued to invest in the squad “to give the team the best opportunity to compete in the Premier League”.
As a result, Forest’s player amortisation increased by £7m (12%) from £62m to £69m, while they also booked a £5m impairment charge.
That said, wages only increased very slightly from £166m to £167m, which was good cost control, given that they would have paid out bonuses for European qualification.
However, other expenses continued to climb, rising £10m (31%) from £34m to £44m.
Following the deterioration, Forest’s £79m loss was one of the worst in the Premier League in 2024/25, only surpassed by Chelsea £262m, Tottenham £121m and West Ham £104m.