Kieran Maguire drops £41m Nottingham Forest reveal – ‘there has been a lot of talk…’
Evangelos Marinakis converting £41million into shares to reduce the debt at Nottingham Forest is simply a “housekeeping activity”.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the behind-the-scenes activity in the City Ground boardroom.
The Athletic reported earlier this month (2 March) that Forest owner Marinakis turned £41million worth of loans into shares to reduce the club’s debt.
It is not the first time the Greek owner has financially supported Forest in this way, with Marinakis converting £12million of debt into shares in 2022 and another £20million the year prior.
Football Insider revealed on Friday (10 March) that Forest are prepared to spend £100million in the summer transfer window if they survive relegation this season.
Maguire believes Marinakis’ conversion “looks good on the surface”, but is essentially a “bookkeeping exercise”.
“There has been a lot of talk about the conversion of £41million into shares at Nottingham Forest by Mr Marinakis at Nottingham Forest,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“It’s a bookkeeping exercise, a housekeeping activity.
“The owners at Leicester City did the same for £191million, Stoke City £120million and we’ve seen similar actions at clubs like Brighton as well.
“While it looks good on the surface, all they’re effectively doing is acknowledging that loans that the club were never in a position to repay are now formally going to be treated as paid by converting them into shares.“
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