Former Nottingham Forest star Nigel Jemson insists that the club’s owner Evangelos Marinakis has to be praised for backing the managers despite their poor start to the season.

Forest enjoyed a busy summer of recruitment, bringing in no fewer than nine first-team players, with five of those being loan deals.

Forest have, of course, sacked Chris Hughton after a terrible run of form that saw them lose six and draw one of their first seven games.

After the departure of the former Newcastle United boss, Forest won their first game of the season, against Huddersfield Town at the weekend, before appointing former Swansea City boss Steve Cooper to try and turn their campaign around.

Previously, the club had been linked with a swoop to sign former Sunderland striker Josh Maja from Bordeaux in Ligue 1, a deal that would have cost the club a total of £4m.

Jemson believes that such interest is a sign of just how committed owner Evangelos Marinakis is to the cause at the City Ground.

He said: “I think you’ve got to compliment the owner, he’s always given the manager money if he wants a certain player. It would have been an exciting prospect for him to come over but you don’t know the ins and outs, whether it’s more money or up front or installments or whatever it can be, or whether he’s turned it down, we don’t honestly know.

“But you have to be sure if you’re going to spend £4.5m on a player in the Championship, you’ve got to make sure he’s the right one.”