SHOCKING NEWS;Nottingham Forest confirm new ownership of club due to

Evangelos Marinakis could be compared to a prizefighter this season. The frame of Nottingham Forest’s owner has been slimmer than usual after a regime that has seen kilos shed like a boxer in training. When it has come to throwing punches, his fight has been against refereeing and the weight of decisions against his team.

The physical change in Marinakis, 56, has been noticeable to those who know him. A lover of fresh fish from his home town of Piraeus in the Athens urban area, he has altered his diet and the results have been dramatic. It was a leaner Marinakis who waited in the tunnel area for Paul Tierney after March’s defeat by Liverpool but such a turbulent relationship with officials has been constant, dating further back than the current season.

Defeat against Everton last weekend saw three penalty decisions go against Forest, who went nuclear. “We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times,” Forest stated on X. The post has triggered investigations from FA and Premier League.

It is worth noting the final sign-off on these matters is Marinakis, whose patience on all football matters often wears thin.

One television in the directors’ box at the City Ground bore the brunt when Arsenal won at Forest in January, Marinakis’s shoe put through the plasma screen in frustration. Or the thrashing by Fulham before Christmas, with Marinakis seemingly storming out of Craven Cottage mid-match.

When his team has not upset him this season, referees have. Some of the decisions have been clear errors, such as Willy Boly’s second yellow card of the match against Bournemouth. Other red cards have gone against them such as Joe Worrall’s “last-man” dismissal at Manchester United, while Marinakis had enough in the Liverpool match and was seen on the pitch after full-time.