Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has been accused of breaking a Premier League rule after his on-pitch clash with Nuno Espirito Santo.
On Sunday afternoon, Nottingham Forest secured a spot in the European football next season as they drew 2-2 with Leicester City at home.
However, not everyone was happy with this result, including club owner Marinakis who was seen furiously marching onto the City Ground pitch to speak to manager Espirito Santo after full-time.
The controversial moment led to immediate backlash against the Greek owner, with one expert going so far as to claim that his behaviour broke a strict Premier League rule.Ahead of Forest’s upcoming participation in a UEFA competition next season, Marinakis recently decided to relinquish day-to-day control of the club in order to comply with official rules.
Alongside Nottingham Forest, Marinakis also owns controlling stakes in Greek club Olympiacos, creating a potential clash with UEFA rules that do not allow two European clubs under the same ownership to compete in the same competition.
To remove this issue, Marinakis decided to transfer his Forest stake to a blind trust, meaning that allows both clubs can compete in the same European competition should they qualify.
However, his actions on Sunday may have created a new problem as football expert Kieran Maguire has pointed out that Marinakis was technically a pitch invader.
Posting on X, Maguire wrote: “Seems odd what happened on pitch at City Ground given that a blind trust was set up to run Nottingham Forest a couple of weeks ago which removed Marinakis from control.
“So in theory he had no right to be anywhere near the playing surface.”
In a comment, Maguire added : “He’s nothing to do with the club…unless the blind trust is a sham.”It remains to be seen whether Marinakis will receive any punishment for his actions at the City Ground, but if the Premier League agree with Maguire’s view then the Forest owner could receive an automatic club ban under under measures introduced in 2022.Sunday’s incident was not the first time that the Forest owner has been involved in controversy due to his behaviour,In October, the FA handed Marinakis a five-match stadium ban for spitting on the floor in front of the match officials following Nottingham Forest’s 2-1 loss in a Premier League match against Fulham.
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