Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis went onto the field at the end of the match against Leicester and appeared to confront manager Nuno Espirito Santo at the final whistle.
Forest drew 2-2 after conceding a late goal in the last ten minutes against Leicester City, potentially damaging their aspirations for European qualification.
Marinakis` actions took place on the field during the post-match handshakes between players, coaches, and officials.
Although initially seemingly walking past Nuno, Marinakis turned back to speak forcefully with the Forest manager after Nuno had finished interacting with Oliver Skipp, a player he previously worked with at Tottenham.
Marinakis was visibly frustrated, using gestures and speaking to Nuno in what was described as a forceful manner.
Nuno appeared somewhat resigned to the situation, shrugging his shoulders in response to the owner.
Nuno responded briefly, after which Marinakis threw his arms up in apparent exasperation before walking away from the Portuguese coach.
Pundit Gary Neville strongly criticized Marinakis` behaviour, calling it “scandalous”.
Neville tweeted, calling the owner`s actions “Scandalous from that Forest owner”. He suggested Nuno should “go and negotiate his exit tonight with him!”, adding that “The Forest fans, players and manager do not deserve that.”
Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville reiterated his strong feelings, describing the incident at the City Ground as “absolutely scandalous.” He suggested Nuno should confront Marinakis and called it “an absolute joke” to be challenged publicly on the pitch, especially considering the club had just secured European qualification after many years.
Nuno later explained that Marinakis` frustration stemmed from forward Taiwo Awoniyi continuing to play despite appearing injured after hitting the goalpost.
Awoniyi was consulted about his injury but indicated he could continue. As a result, Nuno used his final substitution for Elliot Anderson instead of Awoniyi.
However, Awoniyi was indeed injured and unable to perform effectively in the final ten minutes, which provoked Marinakis` irritation.
In his post-match comments, Nuno acknowledged the high emotions involved, stating, “Football is emotions. Today there were more than 30,000 people in the ground with their own emotions. It was a tough moment, after the situation with [Taiwo Awoniyi] we had one man less after a misunderstanding. It’s difficult to control emotions when we had so much expectation on a day like this.”
When asked directly if the Awoniyi situation prompted Marinakis` reaction, Nuno confirmed it was the cause, calling it a “misunderstanding, a miscommunication.” He downplayed the incident, saying it was “based on emotions” and shouldn`t be “a big deal,” suggesting such events are understandable in emotional moments and “it happens and it will happen again.”
Marinakis later issued a statement. He initially celebrated the club`s European qualification after 30 years, calling it a promise fulfilled. However, he also addressed the incident, stating that everyone involved, including himself, was frustrated by Taiwo`s injury and what he termed the medical staff`s “misjudgement” regarding Awoniyi`s ability to continue. He characterized the frustration as “natural,” a “demonstration of the passion we feel for our club,” and urged everyone to “be grateful, passionate and keep on dreaming.”
This incident was not the first time Marinakis has gone onto the pitch after a match.
For instance, in March of the previous year, he approached officials on the field after Liverpool scored a late winning goal against Forest.
He was reportedly furious that Liverpool scored in the extended nine minutes of stoppage time.
During that previous match, referee Paul Tierney also controversially stopped a Forest attack when a Liverpool player, Ibrahima Konate, went down seemingly injured.
Marinakis was allegedly escorted away by security after pursuing the referee down the tunnel.
