From heroin acquittal to match-fixing charges: meet Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis
Tell you who we’re really looking forward to seeing in the Premier League – Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Back in his native Greece, the portly shipping magnate – who owns Olympiakos – has been accused of a series of colourful crimes, including heroin trafficking and match-fixing.
He denies all those charges, was acquitted of the heroin stuff and prosecutors dropped the match-fixing charges, but only after making some very colourful allegations.
They claimed Marinakis tried to pressure a referee into favouring Olympiakos in a crunch match. He refused, Olympiakos lost, and three days later there was a bomb attack on a bakery owned by the referee.
An Athens gallery owner had a similar story: she says she once refused to sell a valuable painting to him. Two days later, a group of men stormed the gallery and threw cups of yoghurt over her.
Marinakis also has a habit of visiting the referee’s dressing room during important matches – something he once explained as “just wishing them good luck”.
