Nottingham Forest owner accused of 'spitting' at referee - and uses unusual excuse

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has been accused of spitting at an official - but he has claimed he was simply coughing as a result of him smoking cigars.

The Greek businessman has been as a result of his antics that followed Forest's recent loss to . Marinakis and those in Nottingham have long had issues with refereeing decisions having been on the end of some controversial calls. Marinakis appealed against his ban and put forward his case - claiming he had spat to the side of the officials, not at them.

An independent commission branded Marinakis’ explanation "completely implausible" and said that his conduct was "disrespectful and disgusting".

Marinakis had told the commission that on the day of the Fulham loss he was suffering from "a hacking cough" and was taking lozenges.

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The written reasons stated that Marinakis "smokes 2 or 3 cigars a day. He often needs to expectorate and/or coughs. As the officials approached he felt a cough coming and he coughed on the floor, down and to his right which was away from the path the officials were taking. He did not speak to the officials."

On Tuesday the commission published their findings and said: "We are satisfied that he deliberately spat on the floor as the referee walked past him. Regrettably, we regard EM’s (Marinakis’) attempt to explain and justify his conduct as completely implausible.

"The only reasonable inference we can draw from our rejection of EM’s explanation for the spit is that EM deliberately spat in a disrespectful and disgusting display of contempt towards the match officials. In our view, there is no other credible explanation for his conduct. In the circumstances, it clearly amounts to conduct within the meaning of Rule E3. Consequently, we found the (FA) charge proven.

"An egregious display of disrespectful behaviour such as this fuels disrespect towards match officials. This was not conduct triggered in the heat of the moment as a result of a decision on the field. There is no excuse for it EM’s position as the owner of the football club aggravates the sanction. His conduct was entirely unacceptable and deserving of a serious punishment."

Forest have already landed themselves in hot water this term. Manager Nuno Espirito Santo was banned for three matches and fined £55,000 for his behaviour after the 2-2 draw at last month. Morgan Gibbs-White was handed a one-match ban and fined £20,000 for incidents in the same game.

Forest were also hit with a mammoth £750,000 fine that was imposed by an independent commission on October 11. That was a result of a social media post last April, where the club questioned the appointment of Stuart Attwell as VAR following their 3-0 defeat at . Forest denied they had questioned the integrity of officials or brought the game into disrepute.

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