Featured Image Credit: The Overlap & Getty
Topics: Gary Neville, Nottingham Forest, Ange Postecoglou
Josh Lawless
Topics: Gary Neville, Nottingham Forest, Ange Postecoglou
Gary Neville slammed Evangelos Marinakis for an "out of order" incident amid discussion about his latest Nottingham Forest sacking.
Marinakis sacked Ange Postecoglou after just 39 days in the job - giving him his marching orders mere minutes after the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday.
Former Everton and Burnley boss Sean Dyche has become Forest's third manager of the season, after Postecoglou and Nuno Espirito Santo were dismissed by owner Marinakis.
The situation at Forest was discussed in the latest Stick to Football episode, with Neville doubling down on a previous comment he made about Marinakis.
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The 58-year-old infamously stormed onto the pitch following Forest's 2-2 draw with Leicester City last season.
Facundo Buonanotte scored a late equaliser and Marinakis entered the field of play - appearing to confront Nuno when he was embracing his former player Oliver Skipp.
Outraged by what he saw, Neville called for the former Wolves and Spurs manager to quit Forest as a result of the "scandalous conduct".
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Espirito Santo claimed the the conversation was about striker Taiwo Awoniyi suffering an abdominal injury where he collided with the post and Forest having to play with 10 men after making all of their substitutions.
Marinakis, who was filmed kicking a cone over as he walked down the tunnel, then took the step of releasing an unprecedented statement where he said he was "frustrated around the injury to Taiwo and the medical staff’s misjudgement on Taiwo’s ability to continue the game".
However, Neville doubled down on his comments made back in May, commenting: "At the time a lot of people disagreed when I said that Nuno should go and negotiate his exit that night.
"Because I think when someone does that in public, in front of you, I think you're at the thin of the edge.
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"For me personally I was quite clear last year, people thought it was an overreaction. But we should call it what it was, it was absolutely out of order to do that."
"He said he went on the pitch for different reasons but I think the reason he went on the pitch was quite clear - he was angry."
Roy Keane, who played 154 times for Forest and was assistant manager alongside Martin O'Neill in 2019, did not hold back with his assessment of Marinakis and accused him of lacking "class" in the way he has fired multiple coaches.
"Why do you think this Forest owner is going to do it differently to what he's always done?" Keane stated in regards to Marinakis' latest dismissal.
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"He's done it with Martin O'Neill, he's done it with other managers. Leopards and spots. Why did you think he was going to do it properly? Power, control, that's how they work.
"You have to sack managers, but try and do it with a bit of class. And then players come out afterwards, 'oh well, that's football'. All that.
"You've got an owner who, sometimes it's just what mood they wake up in in the morning. You're on about the timing, do it in the international break. I don't think these lads care. They just wake up and go, 'it's time to go, he's gone today'."
Sky Sports pundit Neville was banned from Forest's final game of the season against Chelsea last season, having his media accreditation rejected and unable to provide co-commentary on the fixture.
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In response, Neville took to X to issue a statement, writing that he found it "disappointing that a great club like Nottingham Forest have been reduced to making such a decision".
Meanwhile, Sky said the move to deny Neville entry was an “an unprecedented and unwelcome step”.
The Manchester United legend had labelled the club “mafia gang” for their statement slamming video assistant referee Stuart Attwell's display in a 2-0 loss to Everton.
The statement resulted in a £750,000 fine from the FA, who said Forest had launched "an attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale”.
They received an apology from Sky following threatening legal action but in August, The Guardian reported the East Midlands club wanted assurances from Neville before returned to the City Ground for punditry/co-commentary duties.
SPORTbible has contacted Nottingham Forest for comment.