Nottingham Forest owner Marinakis sues Crystal Palace for defamation
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is suing Crystal Palace in the High Court after fans of the south London club displayed a banner depicting him holding a gun to a player’s head.
Lawyers for Marinakis lodged the claim for defamation today, almost a year after the banner appeared at a Premier League fixture between the two clubs on 24 August 2025.
The banner depicted the Forest owner holding a gun to the head of the team’s captain Morgan Gibbs-White in a reference to the player’s U-turn over a transfer last summer.
It also bore the words: “Mr Marinakis is not involved in blackmail, match-fixing, drug trafficking or corruption.”
Greek shipping magnate Marinakis has never been charged with any of the stated offences and has previously vigorously denied any allegations.
The High Court claim is against Crystal Palace and “Persons Unknown”.
The Football Association charged Palace in November with failing “to ensure its spectators and/or supporters (and anyone purporting to be supporters or followers) didn’t behave in an improper, offensive, abusive, insulting and/or provocative way at this match”.
In February, the club were fined £50,000 and the FA added: “The fact that Crystal Palace had a policy to prevent banners being smuggled into the stadium demonstrates that it was aware of the risk.”
Ill feeling between Marinakis, Forest and Palace
It came amid ill-feeling between Palace and Forest over who should receive a place in the Europa League last season.
Palace qualified by winning the FA Cup in 2024-25 but were thrown out after being found to be in breach of rules on third-party ownership. Forest took their place.
Palace were demoted to the third-tier Europa Conference League and won the competition, their first European title, to earn a place in this season’s Europa League.
In a further twist, their manager Oliver Glasner left at the end of last season and has since taken up the same role at Forest, working for Marinakis.
Lawyers for Marinakis were approached for comment. A spokesperson for Palace did not comment.