OH NO: Nuno Espirito Santos touchline Ban extended, Evangelos Marinakis join Penalty and YET again another added Punishment following recent investigations as FA set to stretch Penalty that will automatically Pull down Forest momentum.
The owner of Nottingham Forest, Evangelos Marinakis, has been handed a five-match stadium ban, the latest in a series of sanctions against the Premier League club in recent weeks.
Marinakis was charged with misconduct by the English Football Association (FA) following Forest’s 1-0 loss to Fulham last month, which was decided by a controversial penalty awarded by VAR. The FA accused him of “improper” behavior near the tunnel at Forest’s City Ground, though specific details were not provided.
However, match officials claim Marinakis spat in their direction as they were leaving the field after the game. Referee Josh Smith, assistant referee James Mainwaring, and fourth official Tim Robinson submitted written statements saying they saw Marinakis spit on the ground toward them.
Marinakis denied the allegations, explaining that he had a cough due to smoking and that any spitting was unintentional. Despite this, a report described Marinakis’ actions as a “deliberate and disrespectful” show of contempt toward the officials. An independent panel subsequently imposed the five-game ban, and Nottingham Forest announced plans to appeal the decision.
In a separate incident, Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo was fined $107,000 and given a two-match touchline ban after being sent off during a 2-2 draw with Brighton. He admitted to using abusive language toward a match official, triggering a further one-match ban that had been previously suspended, bringing his total ban to three games.
Additionally, Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White was sent off in the same match and was fined $38,900 and suspended for one game for verbally abusing the fourth official. Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler was also dismissed and fined $14,900 for improper conduct.
Last week, Nottingham Forest was fined $1.46 million for an inflammatory social media post that received over 46 million views. The post, made on X (formerly Twitter), was deemed “irresponsible” by the FA, as it questioned the integrity of match officials following Forest’s 2-0 defeat to Everton in April.