(Editor’s note: This article was updated a few hours after initial publication to include further reaction).
Sunday should have been a landmark day for Nottingham Forest as they ensured qualification for European football for the first time in three decades, courtesy of a 2-2 draw with Leicester City.
Even so, it did not feel like a day of celebration. A scratchy performance and result dented their hopes of Champions League qualification, while a moment of confusion — what Nuno Espirito Santo described as a “miscommunication” — saw Forest effectively end the game with 10 men following an injury to Taiwo Awoniyi.
It was an incident that prompted an animated exchange between Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and Nuno on the City Ground pitch and ultimately had longer-term ramifications for the striker.
So what happened, what was the reaction and was Marinakis even allowed to be on the pitch?
What happened with Awoniyi?
When Anthony Elanga was played in down the right flank, it was clear the Forest man was offside by several yards. But referee Tony Harrington and his fellow officials allowed play to continue.
Awoniyi and Leicester’s Facundo Buonanotte collided with the post as they launched themselves at Elanga’s resulting cross, with the Forest striker coming off worse. After two or three minutes of treatment, Awoniyi was helped back to his feet and indicated he would be OK.
The bench interpreted Awoniyi’s gesture to mean he could continue and, as he made his way around the side of the pitch, to wait to be allowed back on, Forest used their final substitution window to bring on Jota for Elliot Anderson.
Within a minute, however, and with the striker doubled up in pain, it was obvious he could not operate effectively. But with no more substitutes available, a largely immobile Awoniyi simply hobbled around the field for the remainder of the match.
Behind the scenes, it is something the club believe requires group responsibility rather than individual blame.
What happened after and what was said?
A frustrated Marinakis made his way down from his seat in the Peter Taylor Stand.
He seemed to be walking across the pitch to talk to somebody, although initially it wasn’t clear who. He seemed to be walking past Nuno, who was chatting with Leicester’s Oliver Skipp, before the head coach said something to him.
The pair then had an animated exchange that lasted only a few seconds, before it ended with Marinakis throwing his arms wide in a gesture of exasperation. As he walked off the pitch, Marinakis kicked a training cone on his way towards the tunnel.
Marinakis’ behaviour prompted strong criticism from outside Forest, with Gary Neville, the Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United defender, claiming Nuno should be talking to the club to engineer his exit.
Neville posted on X: “Scandalous from that Forest owner. Nuno should go and negotiate his exit tonight with him! The Forest fans, players and manager do not deserve that.”
In his post-match media duties, Nuno addressed the incident, saying it was simply a show of Marinakis’ passion for Forest.
“It was disappointing for everybody,” he said. “T (Taiwo) gave it a go, but it was too painful for him to really push and help the team. There was a misunderstanding between the coaching staff and the medical department. We had the heads up to make a sub, then T tried (to continue), but he could not.
“(There was) disappointment and frustration of course. But it is because of the owner and his passion that we are growing as a club. He pushes us. He wants us to be better. It is his passion and desire to be a big club — 30,000 people felt the same today.
“Many of them would go on the pitch and shake us down. Us as a club, we owe a lot to the Marinakis family. It is the passion and desire. The players feel it, we feel it, and the fans feel it. We have to do better. Today, it was our obligation to do better.”
Later on Sunday, Marinakis posted his own statement on Instagram.
“We are extremely proud and close to Nuno and the team, and we must all celebrate the historic achievements of this season,” Marinakis said. “Everybody — coaching staff, players, supporters and including myself — we were frustrated around the injury of Taiwo and the medical staff’s misjudgement on Taiwo’s ability to continue the game. This is natural, this is a demonstration of the passion we feel for our club.”
On Tuesday, the club then posted on X, saying that Marinakis went on to the pitch because he is so “personally and emotionally invested” in the situation surrounding Awoniyi.
What about Awoniyi?
After further checks on the injury by club medical staff on Monday, the day after the game, it was decided that Awoniyi needed to go to hospital for treatment. He underwent what has been described by the club as “urgent” abdominal surgery to repair the issue.
It will end his season, with only two games remaining against West Ham United on Sunday and Chelsea seven days later.
Is this behaviour unusual for Marinakis?
The sight of Marinakis by the side of the pitch or around the tunnel area, often in his trademark white T-shirt and suit jacket, is not unusual in either Nottingham or Athens and games involving Olympiacos, the other club he owns.
During a recent match against PAOK, he — along with several other senior figures from the club — came down onto the side of the pitch at half-time after Olympiacos had conceded two soft goals before they eventually won 4-2.
More memorably, when Olympiacos beat rivals AEK 1-0 to secure the Greek title in April, Marinakis appeared to play peacemaker when scuffles broke out between the two teams after the final whistle, with Marinakis seemingly attempting to pull players away from each other.
“It is considered more normal in Greece, it is not weird to see him on the pitch,” says Aristidis Bouloubassis of Thrylos 7 International, an English-language podcast and website about Olympiacos. “I find some pundits to be a bit hypocritical in their response to this.
“From the outside looking in, it often appears that other owners in the Premier League care mostly about profits or don’t regularly attend matches. Marinakis is there almost every week, he has passion and ambition. He has set out to change Forest’s culture of winning. He wants Forest to elevate their expectations.”
Before Forest home games, Marinakis regularly emerges from the tunnel around an hour or so before kick-off to check on the state of the pitch and soak up the pre-match atmosphere. When Forest win, he has developed a habit of waiting in the tunnel, just by the entrance to the home dressing room, to individually congratulate each one of the players with a hug or a handshake.
An independent regulatory commission also handed Marinakis a five-match stadium ban in October after he spat near match officials in the tunnel following Forest’s 1-0 defeat against Fulham. Marinakis denied the charge of improper conduct, saying he produces a lot of phlegm because he smokes “two to three cigars a day”. He lost his appeal.
He demands a winning mentality at Forest — so much so that he ordered that, following a draw or defeat at the City Ground, no music should be played over the PA system at the stadium because he feels there is nothing to celebrate.
He technically took a step back as Forest owner last month — is he allowed to enter the pitch?
In short, yes.
Marinakis, whose Olympiacos side have qualified for next season’s Champions League, has placed his Forest shares into a blind trust to ensure compliance with the multi-club ownership regulations of UEFA, which runs Europe’s three continental club competitions.
The 57-year-old will not officially be allowed to have any influence or control over the running of Forest next season, with UEFA regulations stipulating he must pause his involvement in one of the two clubs if they qualify for the same European competition.
The last part is the crucial part. If Forest end up in the Europa League or Conference League, there would be no issue next season. A conflict only arises if they secure a top-five finish in their two remaining games.
The revamped Champions League format means Olympiacos would not drop into one of the lesser European competitions, as they might have done in previous years, if they do not progress.
If Forest qualify for the Champions League, it is UEFA’s club financial control body (CFCB) that would ultimately decide whether Forest and Olympiacos could play in the tournament, because of the changes to the structure of the club board that Marinakis has already made at the City Ground.
If Forest and Olympiacos are rivals in the Champions League next season and Marinakis repeated this kind of behaviour, it would be an issue, as it would go against what is expected of a man who would have, in theory, stepped back from his control of the club. Even talking to the manager would be seen as a potential breach of those regulations.
Marinakis’ commitment to Forest remains steadfast, as do his ambitions for the club. Sunday’s incident underlined that he seemingly has no intention of fading into the background.
(Top photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)