A lip reader has uncovered what an irate Nottingham Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, said to Nuno Espirito Santo on the pitch following their dramatic 2-2 draw against Leicester City.
During the East Midlands derby, Forest overturned an early deficit to take a 2-1 lead at the City Ground, only to concede late when Facundo Buonanotte skillfully navigated through their defense and found the net.
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After the final whistle, tensions boiled over as Marinakis stepped onto the pitch and appeared to confront Espirito Santo, moments after the manager had embraced his former player, Oliver Skipp.
Gary Neville urged Espirito Santo to step down from his position at Forest following the unusual interaction, though the Portuguese coach later explained that their discussion revolved around Taiwo Awoniyi’s injury and the team being forced to play with 10 men after exhausting their substitutions.
That explanation was also given by Marinakis, who released an unprecedented statement and said he was “frustrated around the injury to Taiwo and the medical staff’s misjudgement on Taiwo’s ability to continue the game”.
Footage of the incident went viral online and lip reader Nicola Hickling has revealed what was said in the war of words.
Speaking to OLBG, she observed that Marinakis told Espirito Santo, “What’s that about? You should have talked to me about it.”
In response, Espirito Santo is believed to have said, “Woah, what’s up? I just talked to him [Awoniyi]. He talked to me.”
According to the lip reading expert, Marinakis said “I don’t get it” before throwing his hand up in frustration – and then later was speaking to himself, commenting, “He must think I’m stupid, this time he’s wrong”.
A frustrated Evangelos Marinakis was caught on camera angrily kicking a cone as he made his way down the tunnel.
The Greek owner has a history of heated reactions after matches. In October, he was handed a five-match stadium ban by the FA after an incident where he spat on the floor in the tunnel area near match officials following a 1-0 loss to Fulham.
The disciplinary commission condemned Marinakis’ actions, calling them “an egregious display of disrespectful behavior” and stating there was “no excuse” for such conduct.
