EPL: Nottingham Forest Owner Marinakis Banned for Spitting at Match Officials

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has received a five-match stadium ban for spitting on the floor as match officials passed him in the tunnel following a 1-0 loss to Fulham in September.

As a result, Marinakis missed the club’s first home victory since April against Crystal Palace on Monday and will also be unable to attend upcoming matches against Leicester, West Ham, Newcastle, and Arsenal.

The incident occurred after Fulham’s Raul Jimenez scored a controversial penalty, which was awarded following a lengthy VAR review.

Forest was further frustrated when another VAR decision favored Fulham, as Calvin Bassey appeared to foul Anthony Elanga in the penalty area, but the appeals for a penalty were dismissed.

An independent regulatory commission’s findings, released on Tuesday, October 22, concluded that Marinakis’ behavior represented an “egregious display of disrespect” that “fuels disrespect towards match officials.”

In his defense, Marinakis argued that the spitting incident was unintentional and resulted from a hacking cough, which he attributed to his habit of smoking two to three cigars a day.

Earlier this month, Nottingham Forest was fined £750,000 ($976,000) for a social media post from last season that the Football Association deemed an attack on “the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale.”

The club’s official social media account suggested that the VAR official during a 2-0 loss to Everton was a fan of relegation rivals Luton, following the denial of three penalty appeals.

Additionally, Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo and vice-captain Morgan Gibbs-White received bans after being sent off in a 2-2 draw against Brighton last month.