Nottingham Forest to strike 'emergency deal' in new commercial twist

Nottingham Forest are now at the stage where they will have to dramatically reduce their valuation if they want to get a new front-of-shirt sponsor in place for the start of the season.

That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the Reds will effectively now have to settle for whatever options are still on the market.

The East Midlands outfit are currently one of three Premier League clubs that do not have a shirt sponsorship in place for 2026-27, with their new campaign getting underway next weekend.

Wyness believes that owner Evangelos Marinakis will now have to sacrifice some of the perceived value if the club are to get a deal over the line in time.

He explained how that could see Forest's expected revenue shrink for the coming years through a multi-year deal, but he still believes that is better than the alternative.

Not having any sort of deal in place would leave a sizeable gap in their finances for this season, which they are hoping will be the year to push them back towards Europe.

Nottingham Forest should not try to 'preserve' value

Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that Forest should not try to "preserve" the value of their sponsorship space by going without a partnership for this year.

He instead feels that they would be far better served dropping their asking price a little, and spreading a smaller revenue hit across several seasons.

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, he explained why that is likely to be the club's best course of action now.

"The problem would be, of course, if you say that you're going to do an emergency deal and you lower your cost, you're then stuck with that cost for the next few years," the Scottish businessman said.

"But I think Forest are actually better served getting somebody in and it's paid off, then trying to get their price further up over time.

"So I'd rather take something lower if I were Forest right now than try and preserve the valuation. That's the theory behind it anyway. I'm sure that they could be attractive enough to get that done. 

"I'd be amazed if they don't get something, but they've got to get it done quickly."

How much would sponsor failure cost Forest?

Wyness previously told Football Insider earlier this week that Forest potentially stand to lose as much as £12million if they cannot get a front-of-shirt sponsorship in place.

The former boardroom man emphasised that commercial deals are invaluable when it comes to a Premier League club's finances.

He outlined that there is sure to be an "international" company who would be interested in partnering themselves with the Reds.

However, they are now rapidly running out of time to get an agreement in place ahead of the season, which is now just days away.