sport news The REAL Evangelos Marinakis: The explosive hire-and-fire merchant behind ... trends now
The image is one of the most arresting of the season. The date is March 2 and Darwin Nunez has just scored for Liverpool in the ninth minute of stoppage time, to secure a controversial 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.
Yet again, Forest feel wronged by a crucial refereeing decision moments earlier and not long after the final whistle sounds, players and staff march towards the officials, boiling with rage.
Forest coach Steven Reid turns the air blue and is subsequently banned from the touchline for his tirade at referee Paul Tierney. There are boos and catcalls. Amid it all, owner Evangelos Marinakis stands alone on the touchline, a study in brooding anger.
The scene brought to mind the most common perception of Marinakis: the explosive hire-and-fire merchant who lives life on impulse and to hell with anyone who gets in the way.
Last weekend’s stunning post on the club’s X account, which appeared to question the integrity of VAR official Stuart Attwell, only strengthened those notions. But to underestimate Marinakis or claim to understand his character based on these brief snapshots would be unwise and inaccurate.
Darwin Nunez's late winner against Nottingham Forest in March was shrouded in controversy
Evangelos Marinakis stood alone on the touchline at the City Ground, a study in brooding anger
Steven Reid turned the air blue with his tirade against referee Paul Tierney after the goal was awarded
Yes, Marinakis, 56, can be a ferocious, unforgiving boss. If he does not like something, he will tell you straight and whoever you are — player, manager, director — you had better be ready to take it on the chin.
Yet you do not achieve the success he has had in business and sport through ruling by fear alone. Those who know him well say he is an excellent listener, able to assimilate information quickly and take shrewd, decisive action.
During the refugee crisis of 2016, Marinakis used the Olympiacos kitchens to feed some of the migrants who had crossed into Greece. He has transformed the port of Piraeus, south-west of Athens, since the Greek economic crisis, put himself at the heart of the fight against racism and discrimination in football and is behind a project to encourage greater participation in sport across Nottinghamshire — an initiative backed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Marinakis’s main source of income is not football, but tanker shipping, and his company is at the forefront of the green fuel revolution in that industry. He has even — believe it or not — turned his hand to song-writing, composing lyrics for Greek singer Natasa Theodoridou.
So who is the real Marinakis? And why does he seem to think the world — or specifically, Premier League officialdom — is against him?
‘Three extremely poor decisions — three penalties not given — which we simply cannot accept. 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. NFFC will now consider its options.’
By Wednesday, Forest’s post on X after their 2-0 defeat at Everton last Sunday had been viewed 44 million times. It shook English football to its core but those who understand the game in Greece were not quite so surprised. Marinakis has owned Olympiacos, the country’s most prestigious club, since 2010 so this was nothing new.
Gate 7 International, an English-language hub for Olympiacos fans worldwide, posted a wry reaction on their X account. ‘English football fans have probably never read an #OlympiacosFC 500 word press release after a poor reffing performance,’ it read. ‘This right here is light work. Welcome to show time! #NFFC.’
Marinakis has put himself at the heart of the fight against racism and discrimination in football and is behind a project to encourage greater participation in sport across Nottinghamshire
‘There is a culture around Greek football entirely distrustful of the FA and officiating,’ explains Ari Bouloubassis, one of the founders of Gate 7 International. ‘It’s not a Marinakis thing. It’s a Greek thing. The culture around Greek football is much more toxic than in the UK. There is a history of accusations of corruption everywhere.
‘Forget Marinakis. It sometimes feels as though a different owner will make a different statement every week. This toxicity is all derived from mistrust.’
As one veteran of European football boardrooms added: ‘Many owners will have similar thoughts when their clubs lose games in strange circumstances. The difference with Marinakis is that he will say them out loud.’
Small wonder referees in Greece threatened to strike last December if not given better protection. Some have had their homes and vehicles torched and last November, Athens official Andreas Gamaris’s shop was firebombed. There were allegations of death threats against another referee, Tasa Papapetrou.
Marinakis’s father, Miltiadis, was an investor in Olympiacos, so Evangelos grew up in this environment and has surely been conditioned by it. Within Greek sport, suspicion is usually high, towards opponents, ruling bodies and even the Government. That means something as simple as a penalty decision can become a matter of national dispute.
When Panathinaikos claimed a point from a late spot-kick against their great rivals Olympiacos in November 2022, Marinakis’s remarks make the Forest post seem tame by comparison.
‘It is one of the biggest massacres,’ he said. ‘From the first minute, with a rigged referee, a rigged federation, Greek football is going from bad to worse.
‘I’m happy because all these great players proved they can play very nice football and win, we even beat the referee who from the first minute was rigged. That’s what I have to say, we’re winners in the end.’ No evidence has emerged to suggest this was the case.
Marinaki's comments after Panathinaikos' late point against his Olympiacos team make Forest's post last weekend seem tame in comparison
Marinakis took control of Olympiacos in mid-2010 and has since seen them win 14 domestic titles
For good measure, director Ioannis Vrentzos — one-time chief executive at Forest — claimed the penalty decision was plotted ‘by a fascist para-state that runs Greek football and is ruled by organised crime.’
The size and scale of Olympiacos mean this is like Sir Jim Ratcliffe losing his rag in public because of a dodgy call against Manchester United, and in certain football cultures, like England’s, such comments would change the sport forever. In Greece, however, they are frequent enough to raise barely a second glance.
‘With voices, with shadows/With passion and love/With the best moments/My life, your life/And this love of ours.’ The lyrics are from the 2021 track Exapsi, by Natasa Theodoridou, though she did not write them. That role was performed by ‘Vangelis’ Marinakis — Evangelos Marinakis to you and me.
One reviewer explained that the song ‘explores the intense and passionate nature of love. The lyrics suggest that when the singer sees their beloved, they experience a state of ecstasy’.
Topics that would certainly break the ice if Marinakis were ever to raise them during coffee break at a Premier League shareholders’ meeting.
Marinakis is undoubtedly interesting company. During the winter break for the 2022 World Cup, Forest travelled to Athens for warm-weather training, using Olympiacos’ base. At one of the country’s best restaurants on the Piraeus coastline, Marinakis put on a sumptuous seafood dinner for the travelling party and, as the ship lights twinkled in the bay, the owner made sure he spent time at every table.
The son of a shipowner and politician, Marinakis took control of the family business in the 1990s. Now he is chairman and founder of Capital Maritime and Trading Corps, a major player in the industry which controls about 120 vessels.
In a profile of Marinakis, Lloyd’s List, the bible of the shipping industry, wrote that ‘the breadth of his interests and activities has not caused him to take his eye off the ball when it comes to his core shipping business’.
The Nottingham Forest owner wrote the lyrics to Natasa Theodoridou's 2021 track Exapsi
To emphasise the point, at the start of the decade the company
