Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was handed a five-match stadium ban for spitting on the ground as match officials passed through the tunnel following a 1-0 defeat to Fulham in September.

Marinakis missed Forest’s first home win since April against Crystal Palace on Monday and will also not be allowed to attend games against Leicester, West Ham, Newcastle and Arsenal.

The incident came after Fulham’s Raul Jimenez scored a controversial penalty, awarded after a lengthy VAR check.

Forest were further aggrieved when another VAR decision went in Fulham’s favor as Calvin Bassey appeared to bring down Anthony Elanga inside the area, but penalty appeals were overturned.

The findings of an independent regulatory commission released on Tuesday found that Marinakis’ behavior constituted a “blatant display of disrespectful behaviour” which “fuels the lack of respect towards match officials”.

In his defense, the Greek businessman claimed that the spitting was not intentional and was caused by a dry cough because he smoked two or three cigars a day.

Earlier this month, Forest were fined £750,000 (more than A$1.4 million) for a social media post last season that the Football Association said damaged ” integrity of a match official on an unprecedented scale.”

The club’s official social media feed claimed the VAR official during a 2-0 defeat to Everton was a fan of relegation rivals Luton after Forest were denied three penalties.

Forestry manager Nuno Espirito Santo and vice-captain Morgan Gibbs-White were also banned after being sent off during a 2-2 draw at Brighton last month.

However, on the pitch, they are off to a good start to the season with just one defeat in their first eight Premier League matches.

A 1-0 win over Palace lifted Nuno’s men up to eighth in the table.

Source: AFP