Evangelos Marinakis Sues Crystal Palace Over Selhurst Park Banner

Evangelos Marinakis has taken Crystal Palace to the High Court, launching a defamation claim over a banner displayed at Selhurst Park that depicted the Nottingham Forest owner holding a gun to the head of Morgan Gibbs-White.

The flag appeared last August, in the early weeks of the season, and just days after Gibbs-White’s proposed move to Tottenham collapsed. Instead of heading to north London, the midfielder signed a contract extension at the City Ground. The banner seized on that storyline in the most provocative way possible.

It did not stop at the gun imagery. The flag also carried lurid, unsubstantiated claims about the Greek billionaire’s business dealings, dragging Marinakis’ wider reputation into the spectacle of a Premier League away day.

Marinakis has now moved beyond football’s disciplinary structures. He lodged his claim in the High Court last week, a clear sign he believes the matter has outgrown the confines of the FA’s regulatory reach.

The FA investigated the incident in November. Crystal Palace were charged and ultimately fined £50,000 for the banner, a figure that might normally draw a line under such a case. Not this time.

Sky Sports News understands Marinakis does not see that punishment as any kind of remedy. In his view, the image did global damage to his name, and he is determined to pursue the south London club to the full extent of the law.

At the heart of his case lies a simple accusation: that Palace failed to prevent the banner being brought into Selhurst Park and failed to ensure it was removed swiftly once it was displayed. His legal team are now working to establish exactly how responsible the club can be held for that act.

FA regulations state that clubs must ensure their supporters do not behave in a way that is “improper, offensive, abusive, insulting and/or provocative”. The Selhurst Park banner sits squarely in that territory and now becomes a test of how far that responsibility stretches beyond football’s own courts.

Defamation law offers three main routes 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’ action appears to be built on that last point, zeroing in on what Palace did or did not do on the day the flag appeared.

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

The next hearing will not take place under floodlights or in front of the Holmesdale Road End, but in a courtroom, where the boundaries of club responsibility and supporter expression will be picked over in detail.