Evangelos Marinakis Takes Legal Action Against Crystal Palace Over Controversial Banner

Evangelos Marinakis has launched High Court legal action against Crystal Palace over a provocative banner displayed by the club’s supporters, escalating a simmering feud from the stands into a full-blown courtroom battle.

The Nottingham Forest owner has filed a defamation claim, with his lawyers lodging the case on Monday. CPFC Limited, Crystal Palace’s parent company, is named as one of two defendants.

At the heart of the dispute is a banner unfurled by Palace fans during a 1-1 Premier League draw with Forest at Selhurst Park last August. It showed Marinakis holding a gun to the head of Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, alongside the words: “Mr Marinakis is not involved in blackmail, match-fixing, drug trafficking or corruption.”

The wording dripped with sarcasm. The imagery was even stronger. For Marinakis, it has now crossed a legal line.

The Greek businessman has consistently and firmly denied any wrongdoing in relation to allegations of blackmail, match-fixing, drug trafficking or corruption. The banner dragged all of those accusations back into the public eye, this time in front of a live television audience and a packed away end.

The fallout did not stop at outrage. In November 2025, the Football Association charged Crystal Palace with failing to ensure their supporters did not behave in an improper, offensive, abusive or provocative way. The governing body did not explicitly single out the banner in its charge sheet, but the regulations around fan messaging are clear: defamatory, political and offensive slogans are strictly prohibited.

This is where football’s culture of pointed, often ruthless terrace humour collides with the sport’s tightening regulatory and legal framework. What might once have been dismissed as an edgy display now sits under the microscope of both the FA and the High Court.

The banner also struck a nerve because of the player it used as a prop. Gibbs-White, an England international and one of Forest’s key figures, spent last summer at the centre of a major transfer tug-of-war. Tottenham appeared to trigger a £60m release clause, edging him towards the exit. The move never materialised. Instead, he signed a new contract to stay at Forest and later discussed that decision in an interview conducted alongside Marinakis.

That image – owner and star player side by side – was supposed to signal stability and ambition at the City Ground. Palace fans twisted it into something darker, painting Marinakis as a puppet master with a gun to his midfielder’s head.

The clubs have been intertwined off the pitch as well. Marinakis-owned Forest stepped into the Europa League last season after Palace, who had initially secured European qualification on the pitch, were relegated to the Conference League. Their demotion came after Uefa ruled the south London club had breached multi-club ownership rules, a decision that reshaped the European places and handed Forest an unexpected opening.

So a rivalry that once looked like a routine Premier League pairing now carries layers of legal, regulatory and personal tension. A banner that lasted a few minutes at Selhurst Park may now be pored over for months by lawyers and judges.

What started as a pointed message from the stands has become a test case: where does fan expression end, and defamation begin, in the modern game?