John Textor has made ‘extraordinary’ admission about his Nottingham Forest deals
John Textor’s relationship with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has come under scrutiny following his recent comments.
Textor and Marinakis have agreed multiple deals between their clubs, leading to suggestions they have some kind of arrangement.
In an interview with Botafogo fans on the Canal do TF YouTube channel on 28 November, Textor described Marinakis as the “partner that he wanted at Crystal Palace”.
Meanwhile, the American billionaire revealed in a follow-up interview The Times on Monday (1 December) the relationship between the two owners has allowed them to “adjust” transfer fees.
It has been suggested Forest could face a Premier League investigation on the back of Textor’s comments.
John Textor and Evangelos Marinakis have agreed big deals
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider it was an “extraordinary” admission from Textor to disclose about his deals with Marinakis.
Textor owns Brazilian side Botafogo, French giants Lyon and Belgian outfit RWD Molenbeek through Eagle Football Holdings, while Marinakis’ portfolio includes Greek champions Olympiakos and Portuguese club Rio Ave.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “I think it’s an extraordinary admission. It’s not a big surprise that something’s been going on between those individuals when you look at some of the dealings.
“Some of the transfer fees did look quite high, shall we say. But he seems to have admitted it, so I’m not sure what else there is to say.
“I think he’s claiming that it’s been misunderstood, but he was speaking in English, so I’m not sure how it could be misunderstood.”
Botafogo sold Igor Jesus, Cuiabano, Jair Cunha and John Victor to Forest in the recent summer transfer window.
Meanwhile, the East Midlands side sold Danilo to Botafogo and Matt Turner to Lyon.
Textor could ‘regret’ Marinakis reveal
Textor sold his Crystal Palace shares to Woody Johnson over the summer in a bid to prevent the club from losing their place in the Europa League, but it proved to be too late after Uefa deemed the 60-year-old had breached its multi-club ownership rules due to his shares in Lyon, who also qualified for the competition.
Palace were demoted to the Conference League, leading to Marinakis’s Forest being promoted to the Europa League as a result.
Borson suggested Textor could “regret” his admission about his relationship with Marinakis if his comments lead to an investigation taking place.
“As I say, he appears to have admitted it,” said Borson.
“It’s like the Chelsea situation. If you admit things, the whole kind of process of investigation is completely different. It becomes about prosecution rather than a liability decision, not ‘Did you do it?’.
“He seems to have admitted it. Now, he’ll say that he hasn’t and he’s been misunderstood, but I don’t know. It does look like he’s made admissions there that he’ll regret.”
Meanwhile, Textor has been linked with moves to buy Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County in recent weeks.
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