Forest? UEFA can't see the wood for the trees

ON the last day of April, it was announced that Evangelos Marinakis had placed his shares into something called a blind trust and had ceased to be a "person with significant control" of NF Football Investments Limited, the vehicle that owns Nottingham Forest.

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Less than a fortnight later, after a home draw with Leicester City, Marinakis was on the City Ground pitch, seemingly having a pop at manager Nuno Espirito Santo.

In the parlance of UEFA, that looked like "direct influence" to me.

The Marinakis share-shifting ruse did not matter in the end as Forest did not qualify for the Champions League, a competition in which Marinakis' other club, Olympiacos, will take part next season.

But, had Forest made it, Marinakis moving his shares would have satisfied UEFA, and Forest would have been able to take part in the Champions League alongside Olympiacos.