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Nottingham Forest expect to resolve a problem concerning their safety certificate - and ability to stage matches at the City Ground - in the near future.

Nottinghamshire County Council today restricted the stadium's spectator capacity to nil, after it emerged Forest do not currently have a staff member in place to be the safety certificate holder.

At other clubs, this is normally a responsibility taken on by the chief executive or another senior figure in the hierarchy and this is something that is in a period of flux at Forest, who are in the process of finalising the takeover lead by Olympiacos president Evangelos Marinakis.

But, after the issue was flagged up by the council, a Forest spokesman confirmed tonight that the club are already in the process of identifying somebody to put forward to the council for approval to take on the role - and expect to be able to do so in a matter of days, rather than weeks.

It had previously been the responsibility of Alan Bexon, the club's safety officer. He has not left his position at the club, but the Post understands Forest intend to hand the task to another staff member.

"The club will continue to work in conjunction with the County Council to ensure all requirements are met and that a suitable person will be appointed as the club's safety certificate holder," said a Forest spokesman.

" Nottingham Forest has a healthy long standing relationship with the County Council, and all parties are working together to resolve this matter as quickly and efficiently as possible."

Paul McKay, service director responsible for public protection at Nottinghamshire County Council, outlined their concerns.

"The County Council is currently leading on Nottingham Forest's annual safety audit and we have been informed by the club that it no longer has a safety certificate holder, which is a legal requirement for sports grounds," he said.

"Unfortunately, we have no choice other than to restrict the club's spectator capacity to nil until they put in place a suitable person to fill this role, which will allow the club to hold matches with spectators at its City Ground.

"We are keeping this position under review and will be working closely with the club in the coming weeks on this issue."

The issue would be a major problem if Forest had a game scheduled in the coming days, but Forest are not back in action on home turf until July 30, when Hull City visit for a pre-season friendly and the club say they expect to resolve the issue long before then.