Evangelos Marinakis Takes Crystal Palace to High Court Over Selhurst Park Banner

Evangelos Marinakis has launched a High Court defamation claim against Crystal Palace after a provocative banner depicting the Nottingham Forest owner with a gun to Morgan Gibbs-White’s head was unfurled at Selhurst Park last season.

The image appeared in August, in the early weeks of the campaign, just as Gibbs-White’s proposed move to Tottenham collapsed and the midfielder instead signed a contract extension at the City Ground. The flag did not stop at the gun imagery; it also carried lurid, unproven allegations about the Greek billionaire’s wider business interests.

Marinakis, who owns Forest and has long been a powerful figure in European football, filed his claim in London last week. The move drags a flashpoint from last season out of the stands and into the courtroom, and puts Crystal Palace’s handling of the incident under fierce scrutiny.

The Football Association had already investigated the banner, concluding its process in November. Palace were charged and hit with a £50,000 fine for the episode. That sanction, though, has done nothing to cool Marinakis’s anger.

Sky Sports News understands he believes the FA punishment falls far short of addressing what he sees as serious, worldwide damage to his personal and professional reputation. He is said to be determined to pursue the south London club “to the full extent of the law”.

At the heart of his case lies a simple contention: Crystal Palace, in his view, failed to stop the banner being displayed and then failed to remove it swiftly once it appeared. His legal team are now working to pin down precisely how far the club’s responsibility stretches for what their supporters chose to unveil inside the ground.

FA regulations state that clubs must ensure their fans do not behave in a way that is “improper, offensive, abusive, insulting and/or provocative”. That wording, designed to cover everything from chants to crowd disorder, now forms part of a much more complex legal battle over imagery, intent and reputational harm.

Defamation law offers three broad avenues for a claim: the publication of alleged false statements, the creation of an image, or the decision to allow such an image to be displayed. Marinakis is leaning on that framework as he seeks to argue that the Selhurst Park banner crossed a clear legal line.

Crystal Palace have been contacted for comment. Nottingham Forest, approached over their owner’s action, declined to speak on an ongoing legal matter.

The fallout from a single banner now stretches far beyond a Premier League touchline and into a legal fight that could reshape how clubs police what appears in their own stands.