"What we need to do is have a bigger stadium. We have a lot of supporters and a huge waiting list for season tickets and I'm sure a 50,000-seat stadium will be full watching our team and our passion."

Evangelos Marinakis

Nottingham Forest are hoping to one day turn the City Ground into a 50,000-seat stadium, says Reds owner Evangelos Marinakis.

The expansion would go beyond Forest's existing plans to increase the ground's capacity from about 30,000 to 42,000 through the rebuilding of the Peter Taylor Stand and extension of the Bridgford Stand.

Those plans and Forest's future on the banks of the River Trent were in jeopardy when negotiations between Nottingham City Council - which owns the land where the stadium stands - and the club collapsed over increased rent demands earlier this year.

A deal to sell the land to the Premier League club, which was agreed in July, appears to have secured the Reds' future at their home for 126 years.

"What we need to do is have a bigger stadium," Marinakis told BBC East Midlands Today.

"We have a lot of supporters and a huge waiting list for season tickets and I'm sure a 50,000-seat stadium will be full watching our team and our passion."

Earlier this year Forest said the impasse with the council meant they were considering a move to Toton in Nottinghamshire to create a new 50,000-capacity stadium.

Marinakis has now confirmed the City Ground is "the first priority".

"That is where the team belongs and where the tradition is," said the Greek shipping magnate.

"It's most important for the town of Nottingham and this is something I want to be able to finalise and for the years to come to have one of the best stadiums in England.

"This is my prime target right now."

Original article published 20.09.2024 on the BBC Sport website.

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