Superleague Greece side Olympiakos Owner Evangelos Marinakis is "holding secret talks" with League Championship club Nottingham Forest "to join forces with Fawaz al-Hasawi and bring his own kind of leadership to a club flirting with relegation to English football's third tier," according to Taylor & Oikonomidis of the London GUARDIAN. Marinakis' proposed takeover is "at such an advanced stage that he is understood to be influencing key decisions behind the scenes already," with former Rangers Manager Mark Warburton having been appointed as manager "in the buildup to the game against Derby County on Saturday." Frank McParland, Warburton's former colleague at Ibrox, "was brought in as the director of football last week and other staff are being put in place." If the deal gets the approval of the Football League, Marinakis will take control of the club with a majority interest but Hasawi will retain a "significant share" and "still plans to be involved, despite the growing hostility from many supporters about his damaging and erratic four-year tenure." Hasawi was "close to selling the club recently" to American businessmen John Moores and Charles Noell but "pulled out at the last minute," deciding the deal was "not in the interests of the long-term future of our club" (GUARDIAN, 3/13).
