Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest locked horns in a 1-1 Premier League draw on Sunday afternoon and the English Football Association (FA) are reportedly going to investigate the south London side for unveiling a banner of Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis alongside Morgan Gibbs-White.
Displayed in the Lower Holmesdale Stand of Selhurst Park, where the Holmesdale Fanatics supporters’ group sit, the large banner was not spotted on Sky Sports’ coverage of the highly anticipated clash, but there could be repercussions for Palace.
Tensions between the two clubs had been rising ahead of their meeting as they went head-to-head for a place in this season’s Europa League. At the expense of Palace, it was decided that Nuno Espirito Santo’s men would enter the competition.
Palace Face FA Investigation After Graphic Banner of Marinakis Unveiled
crystal palace banner
Oliver Glasner and Co – despite beating Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final last season – have been demoted to the Europa Conference League after they were found to have breached UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules. A decision was made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) earlier this month.
As a way of showing their disdain of how they were demoted to Europe’s third-tier competition, supporters unfurled an ‘inflammatory’ banner with Marinakis and Gibbs-White, who was set to join Tottenham Hotspur being doing an unforeseen U-turn and signing a new contract with his current employers, being the stand-out aspect – but it could’ve landed the club in hot water.
The banner depicted an image of Gibbs-White, with Marinakis holding a gun to the England international’s head, with a speech bubble next to him reading: "Mr Marinakis is not involved in blackmail, match-fixing, drug trafficking or corruption!"
Marinakis, who has become a divisive figure among football circles after storming onto the pitch to confront Espirito Santo in May 2025 after drawing 2-2 with Leicester City, has always strongly denied any wrongdoing in relation to these allegations.
Not only that, but the graphic banner depicted Marinakis holding a briefcase, which looks to be overflowing with cash. Behind him, there appears to be a UEFA delegate standing in front of bags which read “correspondence” with the UEFA and Forest badges.
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis
Ex-Palace minority shareholder John Textor appears as a clown, while there is a ship with Marinakis’ name on it – and that’s because the Greek businessman, who took over the City Ground outfit in May 2017, is the founder of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp.
When contacted by The Athletic, the Premier League insisted the matter would be left in the hands of the FA, whose Law 12 stats supporters are not able to display messages, in or around the ground, which are “provocative, derisory or inflammatory.”
According to BBC Sport, there is ‘major frustration’ among figures at the City Ground that Palace fans were able to sneak the banner in without much of a fuss and then were allowed to display it without being punished by security officials around the venue.
The club are privately questioning why Palace’s ownership group – the likes of Steve Paris, David Blitzer and Woody Johnson – have not come out publicly to criticise the banner and those fans who held it aloft during their 1-1 draw on Sunday afternoon.