July 27 – Nottingham Forest, subject of a bid from controversial Greek businessman and Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis, has been hit with a capacity reduction of their City Ground stadium of 20% for safety reasons.
The 30,400-seat stadium that hosted games during England’s hosting of the 1996 Euros, will be reduced 24,357 after the local council granted a security certificate.
The safety issues are more to do with finding a “suitable person” to hold the safety certificate for the ground. Something of an irony as there is some debate whether Marinakis is a suitable person to own the club.
He is currently, according to owner Fawaz Al Hasawi , the subject of a fit and proper person test being conducted by the Football League over his proposed acquisition
Al Hasawi has told media that he hopes the deal will be done within a month. The Kuwaiti is expected to retain a 20% stake in the club he bought in 2012. He claims he has spent £106 million on the club.
Nottinghamshire County Council’s Robert Fisher said: “We require evidence to demonstrate that safety matters are discussed in senior management meetings at the club.
“We also await an action plan for improvements to the facilities for visiting disabled spectators and an up-to-date written safety policy outlining roles at the club.
“As a consequence of this, a restriction on spectator capacity is required until these issues are resolved.
“The council is continuing to work closely with the club to see that an appropriate action plan is carried out to address remaining issues, so we are able to restore the club’s previous full capacity status over the coming weeks.”
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