NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper was given public backing by the club's owner Wednesday as the team slides down the Premier League standings.
Forest hasn't won any of its last eight league games and dropped to 17th place, one spot above the relegation zone, with a 2-1 loss at Leeds on Tuesday.
Clubs typically don't respond to media speculation about a manager's position but Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis wanted to put the record straight with increasing reports about Cooper's future.
“No one denies that our club is in a difficult position in the Premier League," Marinakis said in a statement, “but we wish to end the speculation and the false and disruptive reporting in the media to confirm that Steve Cooper remains our manager at Nottingham Forest.”
Marinakis stressed, though, that “results and performances must improve immediately.”
“We have all been disappointed with recent performances," he said, “and it is very clear that a lot of hard work needs to be done to address this urgently.”
Forest is in its first season in the Premier League since 1999.
Cooper has been Forest's manager since September 2021.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
