Sky Sports have apologised to Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper after presenter Elis James mocked his appearance on the Fantasy Football show.
The reboot of the show, now hosted by James, made fun of Cooper as he tried to replicate the Forest boss' look. An act that took place in a mock Forest changing room saw James as Cooper handing over a Serge Aurier shirt, which included the squad number 4345 in a jibe at their 23 summer signings.
James is a stand-up comedian and actor appeared with lighter hair than his natural look while keeping one eye almost closed. According to the Daily Mail, an apology has since been made by the broadcaster, with Forest opting not to make a comment.
The report adds that those who work inside Sky's football department were deeply unimpressed by the skit, with senior executives said to have been left appalled at the 'cruel' sketch. Meanwhile, fellow co-host and comedian Matt Lucas also appeared to make a dig at Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, who spent over £150million in the summer.
The Reds returned to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years in May as they beat Huddersfield Town in the play-off final. It was an incredible achievement for Forest, who were bottom of the Championship when Cooper arrived at the end of September.
However, the 43-year-old completely turned the Reds' fortunes around as he made them into promotion contenders. Forest also had success in the FA Cup, too, as they reached the quarter-final by beating Arsenal, Leicester City and Huddersfield to get to that point.
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But the Reds had a lot of work to do in the transfer window when they lost a number of players, such as Djed Spence, James Garner and Keinan Davis who returned to their parent clubs, while Brice Samba and Lewis Grabban were amongst those to leave the City Ground. Phillip Zinckernagel and Joe Lolley also departed the club as the squad was completely decimated following promotion.
It meant Marinakis had to spend, but many Forest fans didn't expect them to make over 20 signings. They spent almost £150m in the process, with Morgan Gibbs-White becoming their most expensive signing when he joined from Wolves.
Jesse Lingard was arguably the Reds' most high-profile recruit, but he hasn't quite had the desired impact on the team as some would've hoped. The same has followed for the majority of their new arrivals, including Emmanuel Dennis who has started just one Premier League game despite joining for £20m from Watford.
Although the signings of Dean Henderson and Lewis O'Brien have seemed to work out, the vast majority have failed to deliver so far. It is early days in the season but Cooper is already under pressure given the amount of money the Reds have spent, as they currently sit second bottom of the Premier League.
