OFFICIAL: Premier League club faces severe punishment

Crystal Palace heavily fined after fans display banner insulting Nottingham Forest chairman Evangelos Marinakis

Crystal Palace has been hit with a massive penalty following charges by the English Football Association (FA) for displaying a banner containing offensive content aimed at Nottingham Forest’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis. The incident erupted after Forest benefited from Palace’s demotion to the UEFA Conference League due to multi-club ownership rule violations. Forest took Palace’s Europa League spot, leading South London fans to blame Marinakis.

Previously, Palace secured a place in the Europa League by defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final last May. Eberechi Eze’s lone goal at Wembley brought the club its first major trophy.

The "Eagles" continued their success by beating Liverpool to claim the Community Shield in August. However, these achievements were soon overshadowed by UEFA’s punishment relegating them to the Conference League. Palace appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but failed.

“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed Crystal Palace FC’s (CPFC) appeal against UEFA, Nottingham Forest, and Olympique Lyonnais regarding the decision to exclude Crystal Palace from the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League due to multi-club ownership rule breaches. Consequently, Crystal Palace will participate in the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League,” CAS announced this statement in August.

Nottingham Forest (7th place in last Premier League season) was awarded Palace’s Europa League spot. Consequently, Palace supporters held Marinakis responsible for the punishment.

The two teams met at Selhurst Park in August, ending in a 1-1 draw, with Callum Hudson-Odoi scoring for Forest after Ismaila Sarr opened the scoring. Yet, the match was overshadowed by a controversial banner from Palace’s “ultras” group in the Holmesdale Stand, featuring a sarcastic message: “Mr. Marinakis is not involved in extortion, match-fixing, doping, or corruption.”

The banner also included a caricature of Marinakis pointing a gun at player Morgan Gibbs-White. Gibbs-White nearly joined Tottenham after Spurs triggered his release clause, but the deal collapsed following Forest’s complaint to the Premier League. Subsequently, the player extended his contract with Forest after direct talks with Marinakis.

Forest and Marinakis expressed strong outrage, labeling the banner as provocative and racist, and accused Palace of failing to control their fans. The FA quickly launched an investigation and charged Palace.

The FA declared: “Crystal Palace is accused of breaching conduct regulations related to the Premier League match against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, August 24. The club allegedly failed to ensure that supporters or those regarded as supporters refrained from misconduct, insults, abuse, humiliation, or provocation throughout the match.”

Palace now has until next Tuesday to respond and faces a potential fine reaching hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Both Forest and Palace are preparing for European cup matches early on November 7. Forest, following a 2-0 victory over FC Porto in Sean Dyche’s debut, will face Sturm Graz (Austria) before returning to Premier League action against Leeds. Meanwhile, Palace will host AZ Alkmaar aiming to recover from a surprising 0-1 loss to AEK Larnaca before the tense A23 derby against Brighton at the weekend.

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