- The Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest rivalry has reached the High Court after Evangelos Marinakis sued over a controversial fan banner.
Marinakis takes Crystal Palace to High Court
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is suing Crystal Palace for a banner displayed by fans depicting him holding a gun to Morgan Gibbs-White's head. The Greek investor’s lawyers have lodged a defamation suit against Crystal Palace Club and unknown persons who lifted the banners.
More than just the controversial banner, a series of events over the past year has gradually intensified the tension between Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest. What began largely around the dispute over Palace’s European place eventually developed into a much more personal and heated rivalry, with incidents involving the clubs, their owners, and supporters adding further fuel to the growing hostility.
Why Palace and Forest became rivals
In the 2024-25 Premier League season, Nottingham Forest finished in 7th position to earn a spot in the Europa Conference League, while Crystal Palace won the FA Cup, which guarantees them a spot in the UEFA Europa League.
But Nottingham Forest challenged Crystal Palace's eligibility with UEFA pointing to a breach of UEFA's multi-club ownership rules, because John Texter, who was the major shareholder of Crystal Palace, held 40-45% of the club through Eagle Football at that time. At the same time, his Eagle Football group had a majority ownership of Lyon, and they also qualified for the Europa League.
According to UEFA's multi-club ownership rule. Under Article 5 of UEFA's regulations, a person cannot be involved in the management, administration, or sporting performance of more than one club participating in the same UEFA competition.
UEFA assessed the complaint of Nottingham Forest, owned by Evangelos Marinakis, against Crystal Palace and decided that both Palace and Lyon had breached the multi-club ownership criteria as of 1 March. Which led to the omission of Crystal Palace from the Europa League to the Conference League and Lyon being allowed to play in the competition. As a result, Forest would move up from the Conference League to the Europa League.
Palace tried to solve the issue by selling the stakes of Textor to Woody Johnson, who owns the New York Jets, and also explored the option of placing the shares in a blind trust, but UEFA rejected that proposal, saying Palace's arrangement is not sufficient under its rules.
Why Palace were unhappy with UEFA's decision
In the same season, Marinakis faced a potential multi-club ownership conflict with Forest and Olympiacos in the Champions League in 2025, but Forest avoided exclusion by placing Marinakis' shares into a UEFA-approved blind trust.
So the criticism from Palace's side was essentially: if a blind-trust solution could address Forest's multi-club ownership problem, why couldn't a similar solution work for Palace?
Later tensions between the clubs, and especially between Steve Parish and Evangelos Marinakis, escalated, including the controversial banner incident. Parish accused Forest and their owner of playing a crucial role in the demotion.
The Gibbs-White connection
The controversial banner is followed by these heated incidents outside the pitch. The banner was displayed during a 1-1 Premier League draw between the two sides at Selhurst Park last August. It was aimed directly at Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and read, "Mr. Marinakis is not involved in blackmail, match-fixing, drug trafficking, or corruption." The banner also depicts Marinakis pointing a gun at Gibbs White's head, who was keen on a move to Spurs last summer and later agreed to extend the contract with Forest after discussion with the owner.
From football dispute to legal battle
The FA previously fined Crystal Palace £50,000 over the incident after finding the club responsible for failing to control the behavior of supporters, but now the defamation case will follow as a legal consequence from the high court. With the dispute moving from football authorities into the courts, the latest legal battle could add another layer to an already bitter relationship between the two clubs.