Fawaz Al-Hasawi

Fawaz Mubarak Al-Hasawi (born 25 October 1968) is a Kuwaiti businessman and the current owner and chairman of Nottingham Forest Football Club.

Biography

Fawaz Mubarak Al-Hasawi is a Kuwaiti businessman who has been chairman of Nottingham Forest F.C. since December 2012, succeeding his cousin Omar Al-Hasawi. The Al-Hasawi family bought the club in the summer of 2012.

Qadsia SC

Between 2010 and 2012, Fawaz was President of Qadsia SC, one of the largest sporting clubs in Kuwait. His tenure was a successful one, with the club winning two Kuwait Premier League titles and two Emir Cups along with the Federation Cup and the Super Cup.^[1]

Nottingham Forest

On 11 July 2012, it was announced that the Al-Hasawi family had purchased Nottingham Forest^[2] from the estate of the late Nigel Doughty.

At the time of the takeover, Forest were in a stage of considerable turmoil. The sudden death of previous chairman and benefactor Nigel Doughty^[3] had left the club in a position of financial uncertainty. The club had only narrowly avoided relegation to League One and the uncertainty over the club's fortunes had led to Forest only boasting a handful of first team players. A huge overhaul was needed and the Al-Hasawi family didn't hesitate to make their mark, dismissing manager Steve Cotterill quickly and replacing him with former Forest coach Sean O'Driscoll.^[4] This was quickly followed by a considerable number of player purchases, with the club spending more than £6m bringing in a number of signings.

On 15 December 2012, Fawaz Al-Hasawi made the decision to take over the role of chairman, succeeding his cousin Omar Al-Hasawi.^[5] Following a 4-2 victory over Leeds United, and with Forest firmly involved in the Championship promotion battle, Fawaz made the surprise decision to dismiss manager Sean O'Driscoll^[6] and replace him with former Aston Villa and Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish.^[7] On 5 February 2013, McLeish parted ways with Forest by mutual agreement^[8] and was replaced by Billy Davies.

Fawaz subsequently become more involved with the press, including interviews with BBC sports journalists, and even referred to Billy Davies as a possible Forest equivalent for Alex Ferguson, and spoke of Forest returning to a UEFA Champion's League level at some point in the future.^[9] However, this coincided with a significantly diminished relationship between the football side of the club and the media due to a series of media bans and restrictions imposed by Davies. In March 2014, following a poor run of results and a breakdown in the relationship between himself and Fawaz, Billy Davies became the fourth manager to be dismissed during the Al-Hazawi period of ownership.^[10]

Following the dismissal of Davies, it was widely reported that Neil Warnock was offered the Forest manager's position, but rejected it due to Fawaz expressing an intention to interfere with team selection.^[11] It was subsequently announced that Forest's youth team coach Gary Brazil would manage the first team until the end of the 2013/14 season, and that Stuart Pearce would take over as manager on 1 July 2014.^[12] Fawaz has denied the reports that Warnock was offered the job, and that he interfered with football decisions.^[13]

References

External links

• Nottingham Forest F.C.: Board of Directors