Syrianos promoted as Forest overhaul football leadership before new season
Written by
Simon Austin
July 20, 2026
George Syrianos has been promoted to Chief Football Officer at Nottingham Forest as the club reshapes its football department ahead of the new season.
Syrianos’s widening remit follows the absence of Edu, who was brought in as Global Head of Football in July 2025, but who has not been involved with the club for several months.
By March, the Brazilian had stopped attending matches or visiting Forest’s training ground amid a breakdown in his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis.
There has been no official club announcement confirming Edu’s departure and he remains listed among the club’s staff on Forest’s own website — under the First Team section, still as Global Head of Football — while his LinkedIn profile continues to show him as being with the club, which points to a contractual stand-off behind the scenes rather than a clean exit.
Syrianos first joined Forest in 2021 as Head of Recruitment, tasked with pushing a more analytics-driven approach to transfers, and also served as an advisor across Marinakis’s wider network of clubs, which also includes Olympiacos and Rio Ave.
He was dismissed in October 2022 following a review of Forest’s summer transfer business by Marinakis and then-Sporting Director Filippo Giraldi, after the club had won just five points from their opening nine Premier League games having signed 23 players in the summer.
However, he didn’t stay away for long, continuing to advise the club and Marinakis as a consultant through his Fenida company, before being brought back in-house as Global Technical Director for Forest, Olympiacos and Rio Ave in June 2024.
This is a position he has held since, at one point turning down interest from Marseille over their Sporting Director job. The promotion to Chief Football Officer is a step up from that role.
This is the first time the club have filled the Chief Football Officer role since Ross Wilson left for Newcastle United in October 2025.
Syrianos already had recruitment and technical strategy as part of his remit, but the CFO title formalises and expands what he was already doing: overseeing recruitment, technical direction and Head Coach appointments and absorbing part of the Global Head of Football remit, which covered recruitment, performance, squad strategy and player development across Forest, Olympiacos and Rio Ave.
Reshaped structure
Pedro Ferreira, who, along with Syrianos, led the process to appoint Oliver Glasner as the club’s new Head Coach this month, has moved from Head of Recruitment to Technical Director, with more of an input on overall football strategy.
Ed Henderson has returned to the club in the newly-created role of Chief of Staff, Football. Henderson had been Forest’s Head of Football Operations since September 2018, having earlier held roles as Assistant Director of Football, Academy Secretary and Interim Director of Operations, before leaving the club on December 31st 2025.
He had been set to move to Saudi Arabia, but that move fell through unexpectedly, paving the way for a return to the City Ground.
In his new role, Henderson will support Syrianos and the ownership on strategic priorities, governance and execution across the football department, including budgets, staffing strategy and training ground infrastructure planning.
Connor Barrett has been promoted from Global Recruitment Operations Manager to Assistant Sporting Director.
Craig Mulholland, Forest’s Head of Football Development and Talent Management, who was responsible for loans, recruitment, emerging talent, player pathways, the B team and the transition from Academy to first team, left at the end of the season to become Chief Football Officer at the Scottish FA.
Data Scientist departs
Another departure is Data Scientist Alex Marin Felices, who exits Forest after three seasons.
He joined in March 2024, initially holding identical Data Scientist titles simultaneously at Olympiacos and Rio Ave too, until February 2025, reflecting the shared resource across Marinakis’s multi-club group.
Announcing his departure on LinkedIn, he wrote: “A chapter comes to an end. As of last week, my time with Nottingham Forest has officially come to an end.
“Over the past three seasons, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside incredibly talented people across Nottingham Forest and the wider multi-club group. It has been a unique opportunity to apply data science in a high-performance football environment, helping support decisions across recruitment, performance, and strategy while continuing to learn from some of the best practitioners in the game.
“It’s been especially rewarding to be part of a journey that saw the club move from battling near relegation to competing for European places; a testament to the collective effort, resilience, and ambition across the entire organisation.
“I’m grateful that this role allowed me to contribute to that journey while challenging me to grow both technically and professionally.”
He thanked Syrianos, Head of Data Insights Francisco Belo and Barrett and “everyone I had the pleasure of working with,” adding: “I’m proud of what we achieved together and wish everyone at Nottingham Forest nothing but success for the seasons ahead.”
Felices presented at TGG’s Big Data 2025 Webinar on ‘The importance of a holistic data approach.’ This Webinar – and 13 others – are available to watch for free for TGG Members.
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