Nottingham Forest hire new CEO

In another move to improve Nottingham Forest’s management structure, Evangelos Marinakis has made the decision to hire ex-Olympiacos & Roma higher-up, Lina Souloukou as the clubs new CEO.

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Nottingham Forest have been, since their return to the Premier League, making additions on and off the pitch: the hiring of ex-Rangers staff member Ross Wilson amongst many being key to Forest’s success, especially within recruitment. Now looking to further bolster the clubs management structure, a close ally of Marinakis - Lina Souloukou - has joined his football group, as new CEO of Nottingham Forest.

Who is Lina Souloukou?

Most recently, Lina Souloukou held the position of CEO & General manager of Italian giants, Roma, however after a turbulent time surrounding Daniele De Rossi’s sacking, she left the club, and since Roma has struggled for stability and sit 10th in Serie A. 

Prior to this though, Souloukou spent years learning her “trade”, studying law initially in her home nation, Greece, within the University of Athens, however she later went on to become a ‘Master in Sports Management, with a speciality in law in Sports Organisation’ from Polytechnic University of Madrid. A scholar within football management, Lina Souloukou then partook in her masters course for Law, and even became a Master of sports law.

Lina’s roots are in law, establishing herself within Doping venue management initially, then moving into football with Panionios FC and later the Hellenic FA as part of the Court of Arbitration for Football. Holding many legal roles within Greek Football, Lina Souloukou built a reputation - and eventually joined Olympiacos in 2016, initially directing the legal department & international affairs. Evidently, she impressed the hierarchy at Olympiacos - including Evangelos Marinakis - and soon took the position of General manager, starting a new exciting journey with one of the greatest teams in Greek football. Around the time she became Olympiacos’ CEO & General manager, she was also appointed to the European Club Association (ECA) board, as a Diversity representative.

As I’m told by fans of Olympiacos - who some describe as the “Iron lady” - Souloukou brought much success to Olympiacos, with three titles in four seasons, Champions League campaigns, and successful recruitment. Her experience & qualification allowed her to showcase her talent in Sports management, massively aiding Olympiacos’ on & off field strategy. However, she left Olympiacos in June 2022, ending just over five and a half years at the Greek giants.

Eventually, she returned to football in April 2023 with AS Roma, owned by Everton owners: Friedkin group, joining as the clubs new CEO & General manager. Things started off difficult: Roma’s restraints due to financial fair play regulations made it tough for the club to invest, and further improve their squad. Manager at the time, José Mourinho, had restored honour to the club, winning the Europa Conference League a year before, and managing to keep on Paulo Dybala, despite it looking as though the Argentine forward would leave for Saudi Arabia. Mourinho’s struggles at Roma would unfold due to lack of investment, and soon his relationship with the board would deteriorate - eventually, in January 2024, after negative results, he was relieved of his position.

Roma needed to comeback, they needed to unite, and so they hired the clubs legendary former midfielder Daniele De Rossi as the clubs new head coach. A first head coach appointment under Lina Souloukou. Serving Roma as a player for two decades, De Rossi’s time was now to be served in the dugout. He lead Roma to the Europa League semi-finals, and even signed a new contract until 2027, however after losing four in a row to start the 24/25 season, De Rossi was fired - leading to wide scale backlash at the club, including threats to Lina Souloukou. After the turbulence caused by De Rossi’s sacking, Souloukou resigned from her position at the Italian side. Whether she is to blame for this or not, Roma fans view her tenure as completely unsuccessful.

A new, fresh start by Trentside

People are always curious when someone new joins the club, whether it be a player or staff addition. Of course, the news of her departure from Roma is the one thing most fans will jump to when independently reading-up on her career, however, I’d urge caution: Roma’s strained financial situation amongst desire from the ownership to return to previously glory demanded immediate action. Perhaps the board acted too quickly over De Rossi’s departure, but is that all on Souloukou? I’m not sure.

Now though, the experienced Greek has a huge project to oversee - Nottingham Forest are on the rise, and find themselves in their best league start for over two decades. Reports of her joining the club have been slowly increasing over the last month or so, and now it is official - confirmed by Nottingham Forest - with her role being the clubs CEO, a position left vacant since the departure of Dane Murphy.

The club have described her role as being one to “oversee the strategic development” of Nottingham Forest, not only in the Premier League, but in future - hopefully - within European Competitions. Evangelos Marinakis says that he is “delighted” to welcome Lina Souloukou to the club, citing her track record & passion in/for Sports management.

While confines of her role are of course confidential, and the club will decide that, she is expected to have a significant say in club strategy, eventually potentially partnering up with Edu to oversee strategy amongst Evangelos Marinakis’ football group, should he join the group.

Some, as previously mentioned, have dismayed her arrival, citing issues at Roma, however Ross Wilson was once given the same treatment after joining the club from Rangers. Since, Wilson has proved his genius - signing numerous high-potential, high-quality players for incredibly low prices. It is quite easy to judge someone off of one poor period within football, but Evangelos Marinakis sees great quality in Souloukou - with how Forest are now, trusting his judgement wouldn’t be at all unwise.

Lina Souloukou will begin her tenure in January 2025.

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