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Nuno Espirito Santo was appointed Nottingham Forest manager in December 2023.

He had not managed in the Premier League since he was sacked by Tottenham after only four months in charge in 2021.

But Nuno admitted he took over Spurs at the wrong time.

The 51-year-old previously spent four years at Wolves, guiding the club to promotion from the Championship in his first season before consecutive seventh-placed finishes in the Premier League, while they also reached the Europa League quarter-finals.

After his departure from Tottenham, Nuno joined Al-Ittihad in July 2022 and led the Jeddah-based side to the Saudi title, but he was dismissed in November 2023, just 12 games into the campaign, after a run of poor results.

He will enter the final year of his Forest contract next season, following a first season that avoided relegation, before now qualifying for Europe.

Jay Bothroyd
Former Premier League striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

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For the season that Nuno has had, I think it's crazy to go on the pitch and embarrass him like that. There'll be clubs out there looking at him, wanting to sign him. If I was him, I'd be entertaining that now. You can't do those things in public.

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo, when pushed on whether he was comfortable with being approached in so public a manner by Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, again praised the owner.

"It is because of the owner and his passion that we are growing as a club. He pushes us. He wants us to be better," Nuno added.

"It is his passion and desire to be a big club - 30,000 people felt the same today. For sure, many of them would go on the pitch and shake us down.

"Us as a club, we owe a lot to the Marinakis family."

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Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has had previous outbursts...

In December, he said he had "no regrets" over his actions after calling out "big mistakes" made by the video assistant referee (VAR).

He was handed a five-game stadium ban in October for spitting on the floor as match officials walked past in the tunnel following Forest's 1-0 Premier League defeat by Fulham at the City Ground on 28 September.

The club were also fined £750,000 by the Football Association for an "attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale" following a social media post last season.

Forest claimed video assistant referee (VAR) Stuart Attwell was a fan of Luton Town, who were also battling relegation at the time, when they complained on social media platform X about three penalty decisions that went against them during a 2-0 defeat by relegation rivals Everton on 21 April 2024.

Cleary Marinakis does not like losing!

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Evangelos Marinakis is usually in the tunnel after Nottingham Forest games, although he has been pitch side previously too, so his presence is never a surprise.

The frustration at drawing with Leicester and seeing the Champions League continue to slip away bubbled over.

Is it a good look Marinakis went on the pitch and remonstrated with Nuno? Not really. It's now the talking point rather than Forest reaching Europe. In the bubble of the Premier League anything like that is going to be seized upon.

Forest have needed to replace the giant TV Marinakis has in front of his seat at the City Ground after he has kicked it in frustration and he is a combustible personality. He sent a cone flying as he walked off the pitch on Sunday.

But there will be no official consequences, it is very much viewed as 'man goes on pitch', especially given his position at the club.

Nuno handled the situation expertly - he is usually a calm character anyway - and, internally, the matter is considered closed. Everyone is moving on and recognising the achievement of returning the club to Europe for the first time since 1996.

Danny Murphy
BBC pundit and former Liverpool midfielder

He's [Marinakis] disappointed and it's not ideal him coming on but they've just got in to Europe.

They are guaranteed some kind of European football, which is a remarkable achievement and he [Nuno] has done a tremendous job.

The fans have had a season way above expectation - [reaching] the semi-final of the FA Cup - so I think it would be remiss to dwell on some small interaction.

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In addition to owning Nottingham Forest, Evangelos Marinakis also controls Greek team Olympiakos, as well as Portuguese side Rio Ave.

In April, Marinakis diluted control of Forest in preparation for potential Champions League qualification because of his ties with Olympiakos, who have already qualified for the Europe's top tier league phase next season.

Under Marinakis' ownership, Olympiakos won seven domestic championships in a row from 2010-2017, but Marinakis found himself stuck in a match-fixing scandal.

In March 2018, he was cleared of forming a match-fixing ring in Greece by the country's Supreme Court, adding he was "innocent" and "a victim of a plot".

Since arriving at Forest in May 2017, he has invested heavily to help gain promotion to the Premier League, which was achieved in 2022.

Marinakis went on to sign 21 players to break the British record for most signings in a single transfer window.

Last year they were docked four points for breaching Premier League profit and sustainability rules, but they now sit seventh - only a point off the top four.

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Gary Neville did not mince his words when reacting to the Evangelos Marinakis-Nuno Espirito Santo post-match words.

"Scandalous from that Forest owner," Neville wrote on X. "Nuno should go and negotiate his exit tonight with him! The Forest fans, players and manager do not deserve that."

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The Telegraph's Luke Edwards believes the Forest boss handled the public confrontation as best as he could.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast he said: "It is not great. I thought Nuno handled it incredibly well, and diplomatically, but I think it gives us a little window into what it is like to manage at Nottingham Forest.

"It has been a wonderful season for them and then you have the owner coming onto the pitch and remonstrating publicly with the manager. It is just not a great look.

"If he is doing that in public, then you wonder what he is doing in private?

"Nuno said that he is an emotional guy - and we know that too - but you just do not do it. It belittles the manager if you do that in front of the supporters. But it was a masterclass in diplomacy from Nuno in his post-match interviews. He just didn't nibble on it at all."

Stephen Kelly
Former Fulham defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

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I understand it's frustrating for Forest to be right at the top for so long and look like they may get pipped at the end, but you can't be doing that.

Marinakis supposedly stepped down from control a few weeks ago which makes a mockery of that. Shambolic scenes in front of one of the managers of the season. It's crazy.

What have you made of the job that Nuno Espirito Santo has done at Nottingham Forest?

Could be have done more to prevent the recent slump in form?

Given their struggles last year, surely even if they miss out on the Champions League, this has been a successful season?

And, crucially, what do you think it is like working for Evangelos Marinakis?!

Let us know using the details above.

Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo, speaking to BBC Match of the Day on the incident with Evangelos Marinakis: "It [the conversation with Marinakis] was due to the situation and the confusion over the substitution of [Taiwo Awoniyi].

"We made a [different] sub and after that we played with one man less so that frustrates everyone.

"When a player is down, you get information that he is OK to continue, then we make a sub and it turns out he can't continue. We are all frustrated with that.

"Football is emotions. It's difficult to control [and] especially when we had so much expectation and the fans were incredible."