Nottingham Forest owner Marinakis blasts Gary Neville’s ‘inappropriate’ and ‘harmful’ commentary

Controversial Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has renewed his public tirade on former Manchester United player Gary Neville by labelling the pundit “inappropriate” and “harmful”, and has also threatened legal action against the Premier League’s referees body if his club are relegated.

Forest just need a point from their final game of the season on Sunday against already-relegated Burnley to guarantee their survival, while anything less than a large victory for Luton Town against Fulham will also see Marinakis’ side stay in the top flight.

But with survival virtually assured, the Greek billionaire has spoken out to criticise Neville’s comments in the wake of Forest’s defeat by Everton last month, which saw the club angered by the failure to award what they felt were three clear penalties.

Marinakis signed off a social media post on X at half-time of the match hitting out at Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) for refusing to remove VAR Stuart Attwell from the fixture, given he was known to be a supporter of Luton – Forest’s main relegation rivals.

Neville took a dim view of the outburst, and called for former referee Mark Clattenburg – then working as a referee analyst for Forest – to resign as the statement questioned the integrity of referees. Clattenburg did indeed quit his role soon after.

However, Marinakis believes that Sky Sports’ pundits have fuelled the controversy with inaccurate analysis and took specific aim at Neville, with a threat of legal action against both the broadcasters and Neville himself.

“We made this announcement because we tried to protect and then there is a big fuss – but that was made from Sky Sports and specific guys,” Marinakis told the Daily Mail.

“I can bring you 100 examples of times they [Sky] exaggerated, didn’t say the truth and humiliated people. Neville is subject to FA rules too, surely – he is a director of Salford FC. His comment about the club was outrageous, but the FA have done nothing.

“I need to be careful - because our lawyers have already been in contact with Sky regarding Neville and this is not over yet. The comments and words he used were inappropriate, didn’t correspond with reality and harmed people.”

Marinakis appeared angered by the suggestion from Sky he stormed onto the pitch in the wake of Forest’s controversial 1-0 defeat by Liverpool in March, when he was accused of chasing referee Paul Tierney down the tunnel after full-time. He insisted he did not enter the pitch, blaming the “imagination of Sky”, and that he didn’t even look at Tierney when they crossed paths.

He also defended his complaints with the claim that the Key Match Incidents panel, which reviews key decisions after each round of fixtures, has admitted seven errors of judgment this season. Marinakis believes he and the club should have been owed nine further apologies for errors on top of those, and said that he has not yet ruled out legal repercussions should Forest pay the price and suffer relegation or a loss of earnings through finishing position.

“For sure these have hit our position in the table,” he insists. “I am very concerned about this and still considering and discussing with the board what would be the appropriate course of action, including legal measures.”

Nottingham Forest were deducted four points for breaching Premier League profit and sustainability regulations in April that would have made their survival efforts much simpler without. Having invested more than £250 million into Forest since buying the club in 2018 – along with nearly 50 signings since securing their return to the top flight – Marinakis feels he has been harshly treated for investing in the football club and believes the current PSR restrictions represent an “unfair system”.

Marinkais defended the club – who failed in their appeal to overturn the points deduction or have it reduced – for their overspend last season, and claimed that in targeting young signings with high potential, he was overseeing a business model that represents financial strength and deserves leeway from football authorities.