Forest owner Marinakis has 'no regrets' in VAR fight

Nottingham Forest sit sixth in the Premier League

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis says he has "no regrets" over his actions after calling out "big mistakes" made by the video assistant referee (VAR).

Marinakis was handed a five-game stadium ban in October for spitting on the floor as match officials walked past in the tunnel following Forest's 1-0 Premier League defeat by Fulham at the City Ground on 28 September.

"We have seen things that are unbelievable and you need to have the courage and the power to stand by what you say and to be able to prove that what you say is correct," Marinakis told Sky Sports News.

"This duty of responsibility towards the clubs is to make sure that there is justice. And when mistakes happen, to be able to rectify them is very important.

"This is something that I have no regrets [about] and it will continue to be the case."

Forest were fined £750,000 by the Football Association for an "attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale" following a social media post on X last season.

In it the club claimed VAR Stuart Attwell was a fan of Luton Town, who were also battling relegation at the time, and complained about three penalty decisions that went against them during a 2-0 defeat by relegation rivals Everton on 21 April.

"Unfortunately, we have seen big mistakes take place with VAR," Marinakis added.

"Being a human being, you are obliged to make mistakes, it's natural to make mistakes, but when you see repeated mistakes from the same people, this is something that needs to be corrected, and needs to be corrected immediately.

"Authorities or organisations - the FA, the Premier League, Uefa, Fifa - they have a duty to all of us to rectify all this."

Marinakis wants to work with Edu on 'global project'

Edu left the Brazilian FA to join Arsenal in 2019

Greek billionaire Marinakis completed his acquisition of Nottingham Forest in May 2017.

He has also been the owner of Greek club Olympiakos since 2010 and he added Portuguese side Rio Ave to his portfolio in 2023.

The 57-year-old financed Forest's promotion from the Championship in 2020-21 and has continued to hand over huge sums to help the club become established in the Premier League.

Off the field, Marinakis has been linked with bringing former Arsenal sporting director Edu, who resigned from his post on 4 November, on to his team.

"I have a lot of respect for him [Edu]," Marinakis said.

"What I can say is that I would like to cooperate with him on a much bigger project, a global project. I'm optimistic that in case all this goes ahead, it will be another successful venture for both of us.

"I'm very optimistic about it, but we need to see how this will be developed and will be finalised, if and when time allows."