October 23 – The Greek owner of Premier League Nottingham Forest, Evangelos Marinakis, has been handed a five-match stadium ban for spitting at the feet of officials after last month’s defeat by Fulham.
An independent regulatory commission punished Marinakis (pictured) for “improper conduct” even though the millionaire businessman claimed his cigar habit had caused him to cough up phlegm.
Fulham were awarded a penalty following a VAR intervention and the spitting incident happened to coincide with the referee and two match officials walking past the Forest boss later.
The referee, assistant referee and fourth official all submitted written statements to the panel saying they saw Marinakis aim the spit at the floor in their direction.
In a statement, the independent panel said Marinakis’s defence was that he was “suffering from a hacking cough on the day of the fixture”.
The panel added that Marinakis said he failed to see how coughing “towards the floor in a relatively crowded tunnel is misconduct”.
But publishing its written reasons behind the decision, the commission said there was “no excuse” for such an “an egregious display of disrespectful behaviour” that could “fuel disrespect towards match officials”.
The English FA submitted to the commission that the spitting was “entirely unprovoked” and “no match official should be expected to tolerate such a flagrant display of disrespectful behaviour”.
The ban on Marinakis means he cannot attend the club’s next five first-team games, whether at home or away.
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