Nuno's stunning Evangelos Marinakis claim can only mean one outcome for Nottingham Forest

Nuno Espirito Santo has been around long enough to know that when a manager calls out his club’s owner there can only be one outcome.

So the Nottingham Forest head coach’s decision to volunteer that his relationship with Evangelos Marinakis has broken down, presumably beyond repair, will have not been made off the cuff.

Instead his comments appeared calculated, delivered calmly moments after speaking glowingly about the four new players to have been signed by Marinakis at a cost of £100m in the past week.

It was almost as if Nuno, 51, was talking himself out of a job. And as the former Spurs and Wolves boss admitted: “We have all been in the industry for a while now. And where there's smoke, there's fire, so I know how things work.”

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He insisted that he did not know why their relationship had deteriorated from daily conversations to silence. But the decision to fume about the composition of his squad eight days ago may have a lot to do with recent developments.

Nuno said on the eve of the season that it was a “big problem” to have so few options available for a club preparing to enter European competition for the first time in three decades.

History suggests Marinakis is certain to have taken a dim view to those comments. But the signings of Douglas Luiz, James McAtee, Omari Hutchinson and Arnaud Kalimuendo, in addition to a convincing opening-weekend win against Brentford, appeared to signal that Nuno’s complaint could be quickly forgotten.

Even on Friday he began by speaking about the squad being “very near to complete” with full back the only remaining concern. ”They are going to be useful players, no doubt about it,” he said of the new arrivals who are all in line to debut against Crystal Palace tomorrow.

He reckoned that he suddenly has “a nice, good” problem when it comes to deciding on a frontline. “What I said last week was my concern and why I was worried about where we were going,” he added. “What I said, I said it with respect.”

But then came his remarkable assessment of his standing with Marinakis. “Our relationship has changed and we are not as close,” he said. “The reality”’ is that not everyone at the City Ground is “together” and there are "different opinions at the club" which has left him "unsure if the relationship can continue.”

Regardless of whether Nuno survives until kick-off at Selhurst Park at lunchtime tomorrow, there are understandable fears that his forthright description will have distracted the squad ahead of a ferocious encounter.

Many at Palace believe Forest are to blame for their demotion from the Europa League to Conference League. Eagles fans are planning to protest and a heightened police presence is expected to reduce the chances of disorder. And Nuno admitted he has a job on his hands to ensure his players are able to ignore the speculation he is stirring up.

“My job now is to focus them to prepare for the game. What happened [to Palace], it is not right to blame us. The team has to be brave and focus on the game against a tough opponent."

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