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Hello! It’s just another day at Nottingham Forest. But Manchester United have got their man.
Coming up:
- Forest owner’s court battle
- United’s Amorim agreement
- Abominable Ronaldo penalty
- Women’s game gets richer
Premier League owner’s legal battle
Nottingham Forest do play football. This season, they’re playing it rather well, like a squad who have figured the Premier League out.
But in the manner of certain clubs — and I saw this at Leeds United — there’s a tendency for Forest’s off-field matters to hog the attention. In the past few weeks alone, they’ve received one disciplinary fine of £750,000 ($972,000) and another of £125,000. The latter is being appealed.
Their owner, Evangelos Marinakis, meanwhile, is serving a five-game stadium ban after being cited for spitting at match officials after Forest’s only Premier League defeat of the season to date, an offence he denied. And now it emerges, in documents filed with a U.S. court, that the colourful Marinakis is at the centre of a colourful libel case in London’s High Court – the details of which read like a movie script.
A mere seven days ago, Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo talked about his players “sticking to what we can control, which is what happens on the pitch”. Solid advice. Because there’s a lot going on around them.
Alleged campaign
The ins and outs of the UK libel claim launched by Marinakis are extensive. They’re set out in court papers filed in New York, where Marinakis is trying to trace money spent on an alleged smear campaign against him. Danny Taylor has a full explainer here.
In short, Marinakis is accusing two people — Irini Karipidis, the chair of Greek club Aris Thessaloniki, and Ari Harow, a former chief of staff to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu — of mounting a coordinated attempt to discredit him after his takeover of Forest in 2017.
In U.S. documents seen by Danny, the 57-year-old claims he was the victim of “false and defamatory” allegations. They included him being “the leader of a criminal organisation known as ‘The System’, through which he and others engaged in criminal and corrupt practices to gain control over national football in Greece, including fraud, attempted extortion, bribery, intimidation.”
The documents also allege he was depicted as being “deeply and actively involved in international heroin trafficking”, relating to the seizure of a ship carrying heroin in 2014. Marinakis strenuously denies all of these claims and has never been sanctioned for any of them. His lawyers say he suffered “enormous anxiety and stress” as a result.
The campaign is said to have been waged through an anti-Marinakis Nottingham Forest website, a YouTube channel and two mobile billboards which appeared in Nottingham ahead of home fixtures. Marinakis is suing two companies who he claims were involved. He is also taking libel action against Karipidis and Harow, with Karipidis described as “the apparent ringleader”.
Harow’s solicitor said suggestions of wrongdoing against him are “absolutely denied”. He’s seeking to have them set aside by the High Court. Karipidis did not comment to The Athletic but she is understood to be ready to defend herself and, along with Harow, is expected to request that proceedings be struck out. In case you’re wondering, it’s West Ham United at home on Saturday.
A win and a new boss
Sir Dave Brailsford — senior figure at Manchester United shareholder INEOS — was videoed saying “it’s done” as he came out of their Carabao Cup win over Leicester City last night. So it won’t shock you to hear: it’s done.
Ruben Amorim, as expected, will be United’s new head coach. The Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell has reported this morning that an agreement with Sporting Lisbon has been finalised.
Amorim is staying with Sporting for their next three matches but United are coughing up his £8.3m release fee — plus an extra £1m to expedite his arrival in time for next month’s international break. In terms of the negotiation, it’s been swift work.
As that was going on, United were beating Leicester 5-2, advancing to the Carabao Cup’s last eight. It was their first game since sacking Erik ten Hag and it’s funny how things go. Ten Hag falls, with United’s finishing letting them down. Ruud van Nistelrooy takes interim charge and Casemiro goes top bins from long range (below). Hey ho.
Some other lines from yesterday’s ties:
- Timo Werner actually scoring for Tottenham Hotspur was a sure sign that they were going to knock out Manchester City, which they did.
- Tyrone Mings was back for Aston Villa in their loss to Crystal Palace — 445 days after injuring an ACL.
- The draw for the quarter-finals makes the trophy look like anybody’s. I’m calling Liverpool. They’re hardly missing a beat and their spare goalkeeper, Vitezslav Jaros, was on it big time against Brighton.
Money pours into the women’s game
A couple of shots in the arm for the women’s game yesterday, both predicated on its future growth.
First up, a six-year pledge of £840m from UEFA, a tranche of investment which should increase the number of professional leagues in Europe from four to six by 2030. Pro football currently runs in England, Spain, Germany and France.
As our correspondent Megan Feringa pointed out, as interesting in UEFA’s announcement was its public commitment to monitoring the welfare of players and their schedule. The male ranks wouldn’t mind similar, good-faith conversations about an ever-expanding calendar.
Then came a bonus for English Women’s Super League (WSL) in the form of a new broadcast deal worth £65m over five years, an increase of around £5m per season. The important thing with TV rights valuations is that they keep going north.
Playing-wise, it all adds to the sense that the women’s side of the sport is in good health. But coaching-wise, more open doors wouldn’t hurt – which is why the Football Association has created an all-female course for the UEFA A Licence, launched this season.
Jessy Parker Humphreys went to check it out for The Athletic. A prediction after reading their piece: it would be long before we see some of the current crop of elite women’s players in high-level technical areas.
Ronald-oh-no
Look, I get it: Al Nassr didn’t pay a king’s ransom to take Cristiano Ronaldo to Saudi Arabia in the interests of exerting domestic dominance. Or not with that as a priority anyway.
All the same, a bunch of trophies would have been nice (surely). So far, after two-and-a-bit seasons with Ronaldo in town, Al Nassr have won one: the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, which resembles a Middle Eastern-African Champions League.
They haven’t won a domestic title. They haven’t won the King Cup. And they won’t be winning the King Cup this season after Ronaldo missed this monstrosity of a penalty (above) at the end of a last-16 defeat to Al Taawoun. The ball would be on the moon if it hadn’t poleaxed a kid in the crowd.
Oh, Dani Boy
Much merriment was had when Barcelona signed Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig, only to find that their financial strife delayed them from registering him to play. But blimey, he’s been a quality purchase.
Olmo, you might not realise, is a former Barca youth-teamer who came home. His very first club as a kid were Barca’s neighbours, Espanyol, and with the two sides meeting this weekend, Laia Cervello and Seb Stafford-Bloor went digging into his past.
My favourite part of their feature: Olmo turning down a professional deal at Barca and telling them he was signing for…Dinamo Zagreb. “When we were told he was going to Croatia, nobody understood,” one of his coaches admitted. Looking back, it was the making of him.
Around The Athletic
- Phil Buckingham spent a day with Huddersfield Town’s American owner, Kevin Nagle — who bought the ex-Premier League club without even stepping foot inside it. Sadly for Phil, Nagle’s planned ‘Beer with the Chairman’ event was replaced with a tea party.
- Ahmed Walid has been looking at goalkeepers (most of whom are indoctrinated to play out from the back) using long passes as a weapon. The graphic on Liverpool and Mohamed Salah (below) is amazing.
- Jurgen Klopp used an appearance on a podcast (co-hosted by retired passmaster Toni Kroos) to talk about his decision to become Red Bull’s head of global football. It hasn’t been a popular move. “I don’t really know what I could have done to make everyone happy,” Klopp said.
- Valencia’s La Liga game against Real Madrid at the Mestalla this weekend is likely to be postponed because of the horrendous flooding in Spain. The images of the damage are truly scary.
- Most clicked in yesterday’s TAFC: Real’s Ballon d’Or tantrum, although you did all like the Sega Mega Drive reference. Our latest podcast is a Ballon d’Or takedown if you fancy listening.
Catch a match (ET/UK)
- Spanish Copa Del Rey, first round: UE Vic vs Atletico Madrid, 2pm/6pm – ESPN+; Jove Espanol San Vicente vs Real Sociedad, 4pm/8pm – ESPN+.
- Serie A: Genoa vs Fiorentina, 1.30pm/5.30pm – CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime/OneFootball; Como vs Lazio, 3.45pm/7.45pm – Paramount+/OneFootball, TNT Sports.
Lead image: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
