Nottingham Forest owner sues Crystal Palace over fan banner

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has filed a defamation claim against Crystal Palace at the High Court in London. The reason was the provocative symbolism that the fans of the London club demonstrated during the match between the teams in August of last year. The defendants in the case are the company CPFC Limited, which represents Crystal Palace, as well as unknown persons who may be involved in the creation and placement of the banner. The incident was a continuation of the conflict between Pelas fans and Marinakis. The tension came after Crystal Palace lost their place in the Europa League for breaching UEFA rules on multi-club ownership. As a result, Nottingham Forest received a ticket to the tournament. The banner showed Marinakis holding a gun-like object to the head of Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White. The inscription on it contained accusations against the Greek businessman of possible involvement in blackmail, match-fixing, drug trafficking and corruption. Marinakis, who has owned Nottingham Forest since 2017 and also owns Olympiakos in Greece, has previously repeatedly denied any involvement in match-fixing, corruption or other wrongdoing. Now the conflict between the parties has moved to the legal level, and the final decision on the lawsuit must be made by the court.