Latest Nottingham Forest news: Reds contemplate stadium move amid City Ground fight with council.
Owner Evangelos Marinakis appears to have hinted to Nottingham Forest’s City Ground future.
The Reds are considering moving to a new location due to a dispute with Nottingham City Council, which owns the land on which the stadium is built. The parties are currently at odds about rent and a new leasing agreement.
Forest will withdraw plans to redevelop and expand City Ground, which were first announced in 2019. Chairman Tom Cartledge announced this week that “due diligence” was being conducted on “several” alternative sites, including Toton.
Marinakis was asked about his dream for the Reds by BBC Sport after Olympiacos, which he also owns, defeated Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night. He stated that he wanted to “build a big stadium,” however it is unclear if he was referring to a new one or the redevelopment of City Ground.
“I think we have achieved great things,” the Greek stated. “Now you’ll see that we plan to create a large stadium and a new training facility.
“It’s great. We are inspired by this team and wish to do more. You will see in the coming years that we, too, have enormous aspirations for Forest, and such dreams are appropriate.”
Forest’s current lease on the City Ground property expires in 33 years, and negotiations for a new 250-year lease have stalled. The council is alleged to want to raise the rent to £1 million from £250,000.
Negotiations over the purchase of land off the A52 for a new training field are alleged to have fallen through, adding to the club’s concerns about perhaps relocating. Cartledge told The Athletic that the team is considering having a stadium and training site on the same compound, like Manchester City does.
“The terms on that (training ground) project are prohibiting us, but other things have come forward that have given us time to think,” he stated. “Where do we want to be?” Where are the campuses where we can try to pull everything together as Manchester City did?”
