A lip reader has revealed what furious Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis said on the pitch to Nuno Espirito Santo after a 2-2 draw with Leicester City.
In the East Midlands derby, Forest came from a goal down to lead 2-1 at the City Ground but conceded late on when Facundo Buonanotte weaved his way through and slotted home.
The point secured European football next season but failure to win dented Forest’s hopes of playing in the Champions League next season.
But there were shocking scenes on the pitch after the game as Forest owner Marinakis made his way onto the pitch and appeared to confront Espirito Santo, who had just embraced his former player Oliver Skipp.
Gary Neville called for the former Wolves and Spurs manager to quit Forest after the unusual exchange, though Espirito Santo later claimed the conversation was about striker Taiwo Awoniyi suffering an injury and Forest having to play with 10 men after making all of their substitutions.
That explanation was also given by Marinakis, who released an unprecedented statement where he said he was “frustrated around the injury to Taiwo and the medical staff’s misjudgement on Taiwo’s ability to continue the game”.
Lip reader reveals what Nottingham Forest owner said to Nuno Espirito Santo
Footage of the incident went viral online and lip reader Nicola Hickling has revealed exactly 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”.
An irritated Marinakis was filmed kicking a cone over as he walked down the tunnel.
The Greek owner does previous when it comes to post-match outbursts. Back in October, he was handed a five-match stadium ban by the FA after he was found to have spat on the floor in the tunnel area in the presence of match officials following a 1-0 defeat to Fulham.
The commission punishing Marinakis said there was “no excuse” for what they described as “an egregious display of disrespectful behaviour”.
