Nottingham Forest owner Marinakis SUING Crystal Palace over gun banner

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is suing Crystal Palace over a banner which showed him holding a gun to Morgan Gibbs-White's head.

Lawyers for the Greek shipping magnate filed the claim for defamation at the High Court on Monday. The filing is against CPFC Limited, the commercial entity of Crystal Palace, and "Persons Unknown".

It comes almost a year after the banner was shown by Palace supporters during the 1-1 draw between the two clubs at Selhurst Park on August 24 in the Premier League.

The banner read: "Mr Marinakis is not involved in blackmail, match-fixing, drug trafficking or corruption."

Marinakis has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has never been charged with any of the stated offences. Palace refused to comment when contacted by Mirror Football, while Forest didn't respond.

Palace were charged by the Football Association with misconduct in November over the banner. They were alleged to have failed to ensure that supporters did not behave in an improper, offensive, abusive or provocative way.

In February, the FA fined Palace £50,000 over the incident. The ruling noted: “The fact that Crystal Palace had a policy to prevent banners being smuggled into the stadium demonstrates that it was aware of the risk.”

The banner came shortly after Forest held onto star player Gibbs-White following interest from Tottenham. Spurs were understood to have triggered the midfielder's £60million release clause, only for him to then sign a new contract with Forest.

Gibbs-White then did a video interview alongside Marinakis in which he explained his decision to stay put. "I've felt at home at Forest from the moment I arrived," he said at the time. "The support from the fans, my team-mates, and everyone around the club has been unbelievable.

"I believe in what we're building here – and with the backing of [owner] Mr Marinakis and the enormous ambition he has, I want to be part of making something special. I'm excited for what's to come."

Marinakis added: "There was significant interest from various clubs, but we were determined to build our future with Morgan at the heart of it. I promised our fans we would not only compete, but grow stronger and stronger every season. Today is another big step in that journey."

There has been heightened tensions between Palace and Forest over the past year after the London side lost their place in the Europa League. Palace qualified by winning the FA Cup in 2025, only to be ejected by UEFA, who found they had broken third-party ownership rules.