Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo lamented his deteriorating relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis, saying it was no longer built on trust.
While Forest play at Crystal Palace on Sunday, most of Nuno’s pre-game press conference on Friday was about his relationship with Marinakis amid reports the club are considering sacking the Portuguese manager.
“There is no smoke without fire,” Nuno said about the rumours.
Nuno, who said last week that his squad needed strengthening in all but one position, said his relationship with Marinakis had broken down, and they rarely speak.
“I always had a very good relationship with the owner, last season we were very close and spoke on a daily basis,” he told reporters.
“This season it is not so well (between us) but I always believe that dialogue is important because my concern is the squad and the season we have ahead of us. Our relationship has changed and we are not as close.”
Forest dispelled reports of a heated confrontation between the two last season after Marinakis appeared to be fuming when he came onto the pitch and spoke to the manager after the fulltime whistle.
“The reality is that the relationship is not what it used to be,” Nuno said. “It was a respectful relationship based on trust and sharing opinions but now it is not so good.
“I think everybody at the club should be together but this is not the reality.”
While Forest opened the season with a 3-1 win over Brentford last weekend, Nuno had been downbeat before that game, expressing his frustration at the club’s summer transfer activity.
“We are going to play a tough game against a good team and we are short on options to give solutions that the game might need, which is our major concern,” he said a week ago. “We need players.”
