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Gary Neville has suggested that he is not surprised by the latest developments at Nottingham Forest involving Nuno Espirito Santo and Evangelos Marinakis - just months after slamming the latter.

Nuno participated in an explosive press conference on Friday off the back of reports claiming he could be replaced by Forest despite guiding them to a seventh-place finish in the Premier League last season and qualification for the Europa League. Forest's manager only fuelled such talk by revealing that his relationship with Marinakis had effectively broken down over the summer.

Although reports that Nuno was poised to be replaced were played down late last week, his comments ahead of Sunday's draw with Crystal Palace have now thrown his future into doubt.

And Neville, who hit out at Marinakis' "scandalous" actions last season after he was seen remonstrating with Nuno on the pitch after a Premier League game, has had his say on the drama at Forest.

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“It wasn’t a political football match for the players or the fans, it was more from the clubs and what’s happened over the last few months. You can understand why there is a little bit of bad feeling,” Neville said, referencing Crystal Palace's demotion to the Europa Conference League following a UEFA ruling.

“Obviously, then, we had Nuno’s interview on Friday which looks like things might be just going a little south there, which who’d have thought. But, a 1-1 draw, probably the right result. Probably the one that maybe the police wanted, the Premier League wanted, the security wanted.

“It’s an interesting time. You have to feel sorry for Crystal Palace, getting into the Europa League, winning a trophy for the first time and then they can’t go and play in the competition they’ve qualified for.”

Neville's comments come after he was banned from attending The City Ground for the final game of the 2024-25 campaign by Forest in response to him sharing his thoughts on Marinakis' conduct.

Sky Sports described Forest’s ban as “an unprecedented and unwelcome step” at the time while Neville also spoke out against the decision on social media. He wrote: “I’ve dished out my fair share of criticism and praise in the last 14 years of doing this job and have never come close to this unprecedented action.

“Personally, I think it’s disappointing that a great club like Nottingham Forest have been reduced to making such a decision. Whilst they have every right to choose who they let into their own stadium, it’s symptomatic of things that have happened over the last 12 months with the club.”

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