Evangelos Marinakis is suing Crystal Palace at the High Court following a controversial banner displayed at Selhurst Park last season.
The Nottingham Forest owner on Monday lodged a claim for defamation against his club’s Premier League rivals that dates back to the 1-1 draw between the clubs last August.
The banner depicting Marinakis holding a gun to the head of Forest player Morgan Gibbs-White and carried the words ‘Mr Marinakis is not involved in blackmail, match-fixing, drug trafficking or corruption.’ Marinakis has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to such allegations.
Palace were charged by the Football Association last November and while the banner was not specified as the reason for the charge, there are strict rules regarding messaging containing defamatory, political and offensive slogans.
There has been bad blood between Forest and Palace since Palace were demoted from the Europa League to the Europa Conference League a year ago, due to UEFA’s rules regarding multi-club ownership. Forest benefited from that decision and were promoted into the Europa League.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is pursuing a defamation case against Crystal Palace
There has been bad blood between Forest and Palace since Palace were demoted from the Europa League to the Europa Conference League a year ago
The Gibbs-White/Marinakis banner appeared while that row was still fresh in the clubs’ minds.
Then Oliver Glasner, who led Palace to three trophies before departing at the end of last season, was promptly hired by Forest on a three-year deal. Palace host Forest in the Premier League on October 10.
‘This claim has been issued at Court shortly before the expiry of the one-year limitation period in defamation which could indicate that prior efforts to resolve the dispute have been unsuccessful,’ said Jamie Hurworth, a defamation specialist for law firm Payne Hicks Beach.
‘One of the first steps will be for the Court to determine how a reasonable reader would have interpreted the allegations on the banner which included an image of a gun being held to a player’s head, and whether that allegation is defamatory.
‘There will also be a potentially novel legal issue to address given the banner was held up by Crystal Palace fans, rather than perhaps any allegations being made by or on behalf of the club itself.’
Crystal Palace have declined to comment.
