Coach fundraising for family of drowned Nottingham footballer

Nick Marshall said Derrick Otim was "a very good footballer"

An academy coach is raising money to buy a house for the family of a 24-year-old football player who drowned.

Nottingham Forest player Derrick Otim died in July 2020 after he got off a boat at a cove in South Carolina in the US.

An inquest in April heard he was unable to swim and went under the water almost immediately.

Nick Marshall, who coached Mr Otim at Nottingham Forest, is aiming to raise £68,000.

'An outstanding character'

Mr Marshall, who was previously academy manager at Forest, said Mr Otim had progressed through the age groups before becoming a full-time scholar in 2013.

He said: "He joined at a really young age.

"He was there throughout my time at the club and three or four years after I was there. I remember him really clearly.

"If you speak to anybody who knew Derrick, he was one of those boys who stood out, just an outstanding character and a very good footballer.

Mr Marshall, who is now assistant academy director at Liverpool, described Mr Otim as a "first class boy".

"He'd always be the one who would get the balls in, get the bibs in, get the cones in. You'd never have to ask him," he said.

Nick Marshall coached Derrick Otim at Nottingham Forest from a young age

Mr Marshall is currently crowdfunding online because he wants to help Mr Otim's mother to buy the housing association property she has lived in since 2008.

"She is obviously dealing with the tragic loss of her son and she has a few health problems of her own," he said.

"Given what's happened to her, she wants to make sure the remainder of her family are in a good position."

An inquest into the death of Mr Otim heard he had been spending time with friends at a cove in South Carolina.

Emergency services later recovered him from the water and it was confirmed he had drowned.