Gary Neville unexpectedly cited in £2m lawsuit brought by Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis…
Gary Neville became “hostile” towards Evangelos Marinakis after a “smear campaign” against the Nottingham Forest owner had attempted to “influence” the Sky Sports pundit, according to documents lodged with the High Court in London.
Neville’s “hostile and ill-founded” criticism of Marinakis for walking onto the pitch after Forest’s recent 2-2 draw with Leicester City was cited in a witness statement lodged as part of a £2.1 million libel action by the billionaire shipping magnate.
Marinakis, who also owns Greek Super League side Olympiacos, is suing Irini Karipidis, the owner of league rivals Aris, as well as Ari Harow, a former chief of staff to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The lawsuit was launched last year after accusations were made against Marinakis saying he was the “leader of a criminal organisation, guilty of match-fixing practices including extortion, fraud and arson, as well as there being strong grounds to suspect him of deep and active involvement in international heroin trafficking”.
The Marinakis camp have called the allegations false and highly defamatory.
Karipidis and Harow are alleged to have orchestrated claims that appeared in three articles published on a website, “nottinghamforestfire.co.uk”, in November 2023 and that were repeated on an X account and in six YouTube videos.
They were also displayed on mobile billboards driven around Forest’s City Ground on two match days.
The latest documents emerged during a hearing on Wednesday and follow what David Sherborne, Marinakis’s barrister, described as a “settlement” between his client and US PR firm Harris Media LLC, “which he said was instructed by the defendants to carry out this campaign on their behalf”.
That settlement was said to have included the disclosure of “new material”, details of which were included in a witness statement submitted by Christopher Scott, Marinakis’s solicitor.
Scott wrote: “There has been significant document production which include over 500 documents that were provided shortly before this hearing on 20 May. The documents produced include WhatsApp chats, project plans, commentary and internal communications at Harris Media LLC, including congratulating each other on the impact of the campaign in Nottingham including being of in excess of 1.5 million views on social media, through to listing journalists and pundits to target to seek to influence their views of the claimant, including the likes of the Sky Sports presenter Gary Neville.
“It is notable that since the smear campaign commenced the claimant has been greatly aggrieved by the apparent change to a hostile attitude towards him by many such pundits, including Mr Neville. Indeed, Nottingham Forest FC recently had cause to complain about hostile and ill-founded criticism from pundits, including Mr Neville, of the claimant’s expression of concern for a seriously injured Nottingham Forest player.”
Neville had been among those who criticised Marinakis for entering the pitch after Forest’s game against Leicester and remonstrating with manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
That incident came after forward Taiwo Awoniyi had been allowed to play on injured after colliding with a post. Awoniyi was later admitted to hospital and placed in an induced coma. The Nigeria international has been recovering after an operation on a ruptured intestine.
Neville had branded Marinakis “scandalous” and claimed Nuno should “negotiate his exit tonight”. That prompted Marinakis to fire back in a remarkable statement, accusing the Sky Sports pundit of “baseless and ill-informed outrage”.
The incident was not the first time Forest had clashed with Neville. In July 2024, Sky Sports issued an apology “for any offence caused” by Neville after he accused the club of acting like a “mafia gang”.
The broadcaster was hit with a legal letter from club lawyers after Neville had criticised a statement issued in response to Forest’s 2-0 defeat by Everton in April 2024, in which they claimed they should have received three penalties and also highlighted VAR Stuart Attwell’s support of Luton Town.
The libel claim against Karipidis and Harow is proceeding after they failed to get the case thrown out.
Matthew Hodson, for Karipidis, told a hearing in October that the social media campaign had “limited publication”, telling the court that it “fared pathetically” and that there was no evidence of “actual harm” to Marinakis’s reputation.
Ali Reza Sinai, for Harow, stated that while there was “obviously bad blood” between Marinakis and Karipidis, the allegations had “no real connection” with his client.
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