As Evangelos Marinakis walked onto the pitch at the City Ground, it was clear that he was still in charge at Nottingham Forest.
After Sunday's 2-2 draw against Leicester, and with Forest's chances of qualifying for the Champions League diminishing, the Greek shipowner had a short, brisk and public (with the TV camera zooming in) conversation with head coach Nuno Espirito Santo.
Marinakis' status at the City Ground has not changed. However, he has ceased to be a "person with significant control" over Forest by transferring his stake in the club into a so-called "blind trust".
Forest can still qualify for the Champions League, which has led to Marinakis' control being reduced. Greek giants Olympiacos, another of his clubs, have already secured a place in the league stage of the competition for the 2025/26 season, and UEFA rules dictate that clubs with the same owner cannot play in the same European competition.
The Premier League will not launch any formal investigation or impose sanctions regarding the incident on the pitch on Sunday, as it is not considered a serious offence.
Within Forest, the case is considered closed. Sources have told the BBC that everyone is moving on and recognising the success of the club's qualification for Europe for the first time since 1996, as they have already secured at least participation in the Conference League.
Both Nunjo and Marinakis downplayed the incident after the game, as the confrontation briefly distracted attention from the fact that the season had been extremely successful, especially after the club was on the brink of relegation last year.
Marinakis stated in a statement that his reason for taking the field was to express his dissatisfaction with the way reserve player Taivo Avonji's late injury was handled.
Striker Avonji received extensive medical treatment after hitting the post late in the match.
It appeared that Avonyi had given the green light to continue the game, and a second substitution was made, but he was forced to leave the field in stoppage time. Sources say that the reason Marinakis decided to face Espirito Santo on the field was his concern that the medical team and coaching staff had failed to take care of Avonyi's health.
Avonji was meanwhile transferred to hospital for abdominal surgery, after medics discovered complications.
Gary Neville, former right-back and Manchester United legend, told Sky Sports that the incident was "scandalous", while former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said on Match of the Day 2 that there was little point in dwelling on it.
Yet wherever Marinakis goes, headlines follow him.
"Authoritative, passionate, always with a phone in his hand"
"When I interviewed Marinakis in his London offices 12 months ago, I met an imposing figure, but at the same time an occasionally eloquent and sincere person," said Sami Makbel, BBC Sport's senior football correspondent.
She loves the color red, from the jewelry she wears to the artwork on the walls of her house.
According to Forbes estimates, Marinakis and his family are worth around £3 billion. But he doesn't care. And he always wants to win.
He then told me about the "more than 100" Forest home and away games he had attended "without incident", the more than £250m he had invested in the club, and spoke passionately, without reserve, on a range of footballing topics including refereeing and commentator criticism.
He also confirmed his "dream" of moving Forest to a new 50.000-seat stadium, complete with a state-of-the-art training centre and academy, saying it would change the history of the region and the team for years to come, for our fans.
Some would say history is already changing, given that Forest have qualified for European competition for the first time in 30 years.
I met him again after that interview and saw how people around him almost physically stand up when he spoke. He usually holds the phone in one hand and the headphones in the other as if he were ready to jump into the call and issue orders at any moment.
He is deeply passionate about the club and sets high standards. When those around him don't meet those standards, I think he lets them know very quickly.
But the more I dealt with him, the more I could see his more human side. If you can get past that "killer" face of his, I think he can be a very nice man.
When I last met him, after Forest lost the FA Cup semi-final to Manchester City, he was clearly very, very upset and didn't hide his emotions. He was walking around the VIP box at Wembley as if the whole world had come crashing down, his face like thunder.
Shipping, media, football - Marinakis' background
Marinakis is the founder and chairman of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp, an international shipping company, and in 2017 was named Greek Shipowner of the Year by the British magazine Lloyd's List.
He also invested in media, and his company Alter Ego Media bought two of the most famous Greek daily newspapers, Ta Nea and To Vima.
In 2019, he launched a new television channel, One Channel, in Greece. Earlier this year, his company Alter Ego Media, the largest media organization in Greece, went public on the Athens Stock Exchange.
In addition to owning Forest, Marinakis bought Olympiacos in 2010.
Under his ownership, the Greek team has won 11 domestic championships and the Conference League in 2024. Portuguese club Rio Ave is also under his ownership.
Marinakis also confirmed in December that he was in talks to buy Brazilian team Vasco De Gama.
"We have multi-club ownership and many see it as a business. I don't necessarily see it that way," he said.
"It is very difficult to combine business and football, especially with big teams, when you have to win trophies, you have to participate in Europe. That does not necessarily mean that you can earn money, on the contrary, in many cases it is the other way around. We do not have an unlimited budget, we are not a state-owned company or a company that can afford to lose money every year. We have to find a balance between what we spend and what we can achieve," the Greek businessman points out.
To expand his football empire, Marinakis is trying to attract Edu, the former Arsenal sporting director.
Edu has not yet been officially confirmed by Forest, but is expected to become their new global director of football, responsible for overseeing all of Marinakis' clubs. The former Brazil international left Arsenal after five years in November, having served as sporting director since 2022 and previously technical director.
He was at Wembley in April to watch Forest's FA Cup semi-final defeat by Manchester City.
The expected appointment of Edu is a signal of Marinakis' intentions and desire to take Forest to the next level, after he bought the club in May 2017 from Fawaz Al Hasawi.
Forest narrowly avoided relegation to League One thanks to a better goal difference, and Marinakis stated that his ambition was to return to the Premier League, saying that the club belonged to the Premier League's elite.
They achieved Premier League status for the first time in 23 years, winning promotion under Steve Cooper in 2022.
Multiple investigations have named Marinakis
When Marinakis bought Forest eight years ago, he faced match-fixing charges in Greece, despite passing the EFL's owners and directors test. He denied the charge and was cleared in 2018.
The prosecution charged him with fraud and blackmail, as well as membership and management of a criminal organisation, but these charges were dismissed. At the time, Forest chairman Nick Randall stated in a letter to fans that Marinakis had ensured that the structures were put in place, regardless of his personal circumstances. There were also no proceedings brought for his alleged involvement in the bombing of a football referee's bakery.
The attack occurred a few days after a match between Chania and Olympiacos in 2012. Chania beat Olympiacos 1-0, and referee Petros Konstantineas claimed that he had received indirect threats before the match to "ensure" Olympiacos' victory against Chania. Marinakis denied any involvement.
Marinakis was also named during the investigation into one of the most controversial drug trafficking cases. The "Noor 1" case is considered one of the largest in Greek history, and involved the smuggling of 2,1 tons of heroin into Greece in 2014. Marinakis was never charged or convicted of a crime.
His alleged links to people involved in the smuggling network have placed him under formal judicial investigation for a period of time. He has denied the charges. Marinakis is currently under investigation for civil offences. The investigation was launched following the death of a riot police officer who was injured during a volleyball match between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos in December 2023. Marinakis denies the charges, which he calls "completely baseless", and claims they are an attempt at blackmail.
Invasion of the pitch, spitting and questioning VAR
Sunday's match between Forest and Leicester was not the first time Marinakis has been in the spotlight for entering the pitch. In 2021, the Greek Super League suspended him for five months after he was found guilty of verbally abusing a referee.
During his time at Forest, he was also plagued by disciplinary problems. In September, he was found guilty of improper conduct for spitting on the ground as match officials passed him after Forest's 1–0 defeat to Fulham at the City Ground on 28 September. He was given a five-match stadium ban.
Marinakis denied the accusation, but referee Josh Smith, assistant referee James Mainwaring and fourth official Tim Robinson submitted written statements claiming they saw Marinakis spit on the floor in their direction as they walked towards the locker room.
Three months later, he was a key figure in Forest's "unprecedented attack on the integrity of a referee" following a social media post about video assistant referee (VAR) Stuart Atwell.
Marinakis said he had "no regrets" for pointing out the referee's serious errors, but Forest were fined £750.000 (€891) for posting on Platform X last season. Officially, the club questioned Atwell's integrity after Forest missed a penalty in their defeat to Everton last April, which left them just one point above the relegation zone.
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