Martin O’Neill says that Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is not his ‘favourite person’ after being sacked after just 19 games at the club.
The 72-year-old is a Forest legend having played a key part in the club’s golden era as a player, helping them to First Division title in 1978, along with two European Cups in the the following years.
After a successful career in management, O’Neill was brought back to the City Ground in January 2019 with the club playing in the Championship.
But despite leading the club to ninth place that season, he was sacked that summer by Marinakis and replaced by Sabri Lamouchi.
In the present day, Forest are going great guns in the Premier League and sit in fifth position after 11 games – far exceeding expectations after being embroiled in a relegation battle last term.
In response to Jim White saying that O’Neill would love Forest to succeed but not Marinakis, the former boss jokingly told talkSPORT: “How would he be my favourite person if he gave me 19 games and then disposed of my services.
“How would he be my favourite person?”
O’Neill added: “I am going to have a private conversation with the bosses of talkSPORT and see how Jim White would feel if his job has been threatened every single week!”
The 72-year-old joined Nottingham Forest where he spent ten years as a player in January 2019 as manager.
He won eight, drew three and lost eight ending the season in ninth.
A decent record but it was not enough to secure his job for the upcoming campaign.
Sabri Lamouchi was the next hire who became the first Forest manager to complete a full season in over nine years.
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After Forest’s 1-0 loss to Newcastle O’Neill denied that the bubble had burst.
“I think that, yeah, it was a disappointing result in the sense that they were on such a really good run and as you mentioned, had they won that their points tally at this stage of the season would have been enormous.
But they’re still greatly placed. They’ve got a lot of good players in the side, they’ve looked strong defensively and they can break forward.
“They’ve got a bit of pace in the team, they score a few goals.
“I’m a wee bit surprising really about the centre forward [Chris Wood] doing so well I must admit. He’s the same age as me but he’s done remarkably well!
“They lost to Newcastle but it’s just a blip in proceedings here.
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“Had you asked Forest fans at the start of the season if they’d not have any relegation problems, they’d probably have accepted that but expectations have risen so let’s see how that goes but it’s been a really great start.”
Nuno Espirito Santo is performing way above expectations as fans had gotten used to battles to avoid relegation, similarly to what they did towards the end of last season.
They currently sit fifth with five wins, one being against first place Liverpool who are yet to lose to another team despite playing tough competition like Arsenal.
And as O’Neill said, Wood is on fire, netting eight goals in eleven league matches, outscoring Cole Palmer and being level with Mohamed Salah.
There is a feel-good vibe around the team, but with a trip to Arsenal coming up, things aren’t going to get any easier for Espirito Santo’s side.