Nottingham Forest owner banned for spitting towards referee after coughing claim is dismissed

Evangelos Marinakis’ conduct towards referee Josh Smith was admonished by an independent regulatory commission

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis spat towards match officials in a “flagrant display of disrespectful behaviour”, the Football Association successfully claimed to a commission.
The Greek billionaire was subsequently handed a five-match stadium ban after a KC dismissed evidence that he was disposing of “phlegm” because of a hacking cigar cough.
Written reasons for Marinakis’ “improper conduct” following Forest’s 1-0 defeat against Fulham in September detail how he blamed his three-a-day cigar habit after witnesses reported him for spitting.
Marinakis denied accusations of spitting in the tunnel area but after his FA punishment was confirmed last week, the independent regulatory commission findings have now been published.
“An egregious display of disrespectful behaviour such as this fuels disrespect towards match officials,” concludes Dominic Adamson KC in his written reasons.
Marinakis “spat on the floor” towards the referee in the tunnel area at the City Ground, after a controversial defeat for his side, the written reasons state. However, the club owner, who has appealed the five-game ban, denied aiming his spit towards the referee’s feet. He claimed he had a “hacking cough” and argued in his defence that he smokes “two or three cigars a day”.
In publishing its written reasons, the FA said the independent commission was “satisfied” Marinakis deliberately spat on the floor as the referee walked past him “in a disrespectful and disgusting display of contempt”.
Forest had been furious with referee Josh Smith after the official awarded Fulham a penalty on the advice of VAR John Brooks, while also denying the home team two spot-kick claims of their own.
After the game, a senior club source warned that poor refereeing standards are “damaging the Premier League”. Telegraph Sport’s reporting of Forest’s version of events was cited in the FA findings.
According to the written reasons, Marinakis then told investigators “he often needs to expectorate and/or coughs” and “coughs contain phlegm”.
“If he has to spit, he spits in a tissue if one is available or on the floor if he does,” his witness statement says, and if he does “not have one available… sometimes when he coughs spit or phlegm can go to the floor.”
“On the day of the incident he was suffering from a hacking cough,” he is said to claim. “He was taking lozenges. As the officials approached he felt a cough coming and he coughed on the floor, down and to his right which was away from the path the officials were taking,” the statement adds.
“He did not speak to the officials. He cannot now remember if any spittle left his mouth but if it did (and he does not challenge that some might well have done) it certainly was not aimed at the referee’s feet and did not hit anybody. He fails to see how coughing (where spit or phlegm can come out from any person) towards the floor in a relatively crowded tunnel is misconduct.”
That version of events differs significantly from the match officials on duty. Referee Smith had stated after the match: “As I walked down the tunnel at the end of the match, Mr Evangelos Marinakis, the owner of Nottingham Forest, was stood on my left hand side at the end of the tunnel. As I walked past him, he spat on the floor next to my left foot.”
James Mainwaring, the assistant referee, added: “At the top of the tunnel, on our left-hand side, Mr Marinakis was stood. He did not say anything but as we approached him and was close, he spat on the ground in front of us.”
The ban for Marinakis, who also owns Greek club Olympiacos, is regarded as a huge punishment and he will be unable to attend the home matches against Crystal Palace, West Ham United and Newcastle United, and away matches at Leicester City and Arsenal.
Marinakis’ ban is the longest in English football since Leyton Orient president Francesco Becchetti was suspended from the stadium for six matches after being found guilty of violent conduct.
The latest sanctions for Forest are their second inside a week from the FA, following the mammoth £750,000 fine for the controversial post on social media made after last season’s defeat at Everton.
Mr Adamson KC, who reviewed the evidence alongside Bradley Pritchard and Mick Kearns, concluded Marinakis “deliberately spat in a disrespectful and disgusting display of contempt towards the match officials” and “it clearly amounts to misconduct” within FA rules.
“The FA submit that the spitting was ‘entirely unprovoked’ and ‘no match official should be expected to tolerate such a flagrant display of disrespectful behaviour’,” the panel added. “We agree.”
“An egregious display of disrespectful behaviour such as this fuels disrespect towards match officials. We take account of the fact that the conduct was not on the field of play and so was not broadcast on television. However, this was not conduct triggered in the heat of the moment as a result of a decision on the field. It was after the game had ended.”