Evangelos Marinakis, the infamous owner of Olympiakos, is holding secret talks with Nottingham Forest to join forces with Fawaz al-Hasawi and bring his own kind of leadership to a club flirting with relegation to English football’s third tier.

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Marinakis’s proposed takeover is at such an advanced stage that he is understood to be influencing key decisions behind the scenes already, with the former Rangers manager Mark Warburton having been appointed as manager in the buildup to the game against Derby County on Saturday. Frank McParland, Warburton’s former colleague at Ibrox, was brought in as the director of football last week and other staff are being put in place.

If the deal gets the approval of the Football League, Marinakis will take control of the club with a majority interest but Hasawi will retain a significant share and still plans to be involved, despite the growing hostility from many supporters about his damaging and erratic four-year tenure.

Hasawi was close to selling the club recently to the American businessmen John Moores and Charles Noell but pulled out at the last minute, bringing an end to several months of drawn-out negotiations, after deciding the deal was “not in the interests of the long-term future of our club”.

Instead, it has now become clear that Marinakis had re-emerged while those negotiations were taking place and Hasawi has decided to go with the Greek shipping magnate rather than accepting only a small stake with the Americans.

Marinakis previously tried to buy Forest last summer and even went as far as identifying Philippe Montanier as their manager. The takeover stalled at the time because Marinakis was facing criminal charges in Greece and was banned, as part of his bail conditions, from football administration in his home country. However, Marinakis has always denied any wrongdoing and, having not been convicted of any offence, he has been working with the authorities to see if he can pass the Football League owners’ and directors’ test.

That process started with Marinakis making representations to Uefa and has now reached the point whereby people close to the deal believe he is in a stronger position to finalise the takeover than any other time. Hasawi’s judgment will inevitably be called into question and the latest developments also seem to kill off any faint hope the Americans had of resurrecting a deal, despite Hasawi being made aware that their offer was still on the table.

Moores and Noell had provisionally agreed to bring in Gary Rowett as manager when they thought the takeover was imminent in January. Trevor Birch, an experienced chief executive, had been lined up and Trevor Watkins, a sports lawyer and former Bournemouth chairman, had been identified as the point of contact between San Diego and Nottingham. Paul Mitchell, on gardening leave after resigning as Tottenham Hotspur’s head of recruitment, had agreed to join Forest as sporting director and the first transfer had been lined up – Conor Hourihane, then at Barnsley and now of Aston Villa – before Hasawi pulled out, without apparently giving the Americans an explanation.

Hasawi has previously admitted that the American regime would have been “more professional” than his own and the Kuwaiti must now convince Forest’s increasingly sceptical supporters that if Marinakis is given permission to take control it is the right way to repair a damaged club.

Forest are two points above the Championship’s relegation places after four years of Hasawi’s ownership in which their league position has steadily worsened every season. Warburton’s arrival bucks a trend of managers turning down Forest because of the chaotic backdrop at the City Ground, involving a series of winding-up orders in the high court, transfer embargoes and starting the season with a reduced capacity because the ground did not have a safety-certificate holder.

The precise terms of the proposed Marinakis deal are not clear but the Guardian revealed in October that prospective buyers had been asked to pay Hasawi an annual salary that could rise above £1m. He also wanted a series of financial demands that included a clause entitling him to whatever the players earned in bonuses. However, the latest deal, if sanctioned, seems to be different to the others, with Marinakis effectively to take charge from Greece and Hasawi still active on the scene. Forest and Hasawi have been asked to comment.