Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has been handed a five-match stadium ban for spitting on the floor as match officials passed by in the tunnel following a 1-0 defeat to Fulham in September.
Marinakis missed Forest’s first home win since April against Crystal Palace on Monday and will also be barred from attending upcoming matches against Leicester, West Ham, Newcastle, and Arsenal.
The incident occurred after Fulham’s Raul Jimenez converted a controversial penalty awarded following a lengthy VAR review. Forest felt further aggrieved when another VAR decision denied them a penalty for what appeared to be a foul by Calvin Bassey on Anthony Elanga.
An independent regulatory commission’s findings, released on Tuesday, described Marinakis’ behavior as an “egregious display of disrespectful behaviour” that “fuels disrespect towards match officials.” In his defense, the Greek businessman claimed the spitting was unintentional and resulted from a hacking cough linked to his smoking habit of two to three cigars a day.
Earlier this month, Nottingham Forest was fined £750,000 ($976,000) for a social media post deemed to have attacked “the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale” after the club accused a VAR official of being biased against them during a 2-0 defeat to Everton, where they were denied three penalty appeals.
Additionally, Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo and vice-captain Morgan Gibbs-White received bans after being sent off in a 2-2 draw at Brighton last month. On the pitch, however, Forest has enjoyed a strong start to the season, with just one defeat in their opening eight Premier League games.