Evangelos Marinakis is suing Crystal Palace at the High Court over a banner displayed at Selhurst Park last season. The Nottingham Forest owner lodged a defamation claim on Monday against the Premier League club, stemming from the 1-1 draw between the two sides last August.
The banner depicted Marinakis holding a gun to the head of Forest player Morgan Gibbs-White, with text reading "Mr Marinakis is not involved in blackmail, match-fixing, drug trafficking or corruption." Marinakis has consistently denied any wrongdoing regarding such allegations.
Palace were charged by the Football Association last November. The banner was not specified as the reason for the charge, but there are strict rules covering defamatory, political and offensive messaging.
Bad blood between the clubs
Tension between Forest and Palace dates back a year, to when Palace were demoted from the Europa League to the Europa Conference League under UEFA rules on multi-club ownership. Forest benefited from that decision, being promoted into the Europa League instead. The Gibbs-White banner appeared while that dispute was still fresh.
Oliver Glasner, who led Palace to three trophies before leaving at the end of last season, was then hired by Forest on a three-year deal. Palace host Forest in the Premier League on October 10.
Legal case details
Jamie Hurworth, a defamation specialist at law firm Payne Hicks Beach, said the claim was issued shortly before the expiry of the one-year limitation period for defamation, which could indicate prior efforts to resolve the dispute had failed. He said the court would first need to determine how a reasonable reader would interpret the banner's imagery, including the gun held to a player's head, and whether it was defamatory. Hurworth added there was a potentially novel legal issue since the banner was held by Crystal Palace fans rather than the club itself.
Crystal Palace have declined to comment.
