Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is facing some uncomfortable accusations in Portugal. A candidate for the Rio Ave presidency believes the Greek businessman has put his own interests ahead of the club’s.
And he’s not just complaining about how things are run. He’s pointing to specific transfers, claiming Rio Ave lost money because players were sent to Olympiacos for less than other clubs had offered.
It’s a pretty direct criticism of the multi-club setup that also includes Nottingham Forest.
Marinakis accused of putting investor’s interests first
The accusations come from Avelino Fernandes, a 36-year-old businessman running for Rio Ave president. Speaking to Portuguese newspaper A Bola, he made his feelings about Marinakis pretty clear.
“If we win the elections, we’ll have to work together, because we want Rio Ave to benefit. But I only see him as an investor,” Fernandes said.
“Do I agree with every deal? No. Take the recent examples of Clayton and André Luiz. We had higher offers from other clubs that weren’t accepted, and the players ended up moving to another club in the same group for lower fees.”
“I can’t agree with that, because it directly harms Rio Ave.”
Both players joined Olympiacos in January and February this year. Like Rio Ave and Nottingham Forest, the Greek club belongs to Marinakis’ football network.
Fernandes believes those deals tell a bigger story about who benefits from the arrangement.
“When several clubs are interested in certain players, with higher financial offers than those they eventually sell for, it’s clear the deals only served the investor’s interests,” he said.
He then brought up André Luiz, claiming Benfica had offered €14m (£11.7m) in January. Instead, the Brazilian joined Olympiacos for around €6-7m (£5-5.9m). The winger subsequently left Greece in a deal Fernandes valued at approximately €20m (£16.7m).
“The club was clearly harmed,” he concluded.
Interestingly, Marinakis himself has previously discussed turning down bigger offers.
In February, we covered comments attributed to the businessman in which he acknowledged rejecting offers worth more than €30m (£25.1m) for the two players.
Those reportedly included interest from Wolverhampton and Benfica in André Luiz, alongside an offer from the UAE for Clayton.
His explanation was that he wanted to strengthen Olympiacos. So that certainly gives Fernandes’ criticism another dimension.
Nottingham Forest owner’s control also questioned
The transfer dealings are only part of Fernandes’ problem with the current arrangement.
Marinakis’ investment structure holds 80% of Rio Ave’s football company, leaving the club with a 20% minority stake.
Fernandes believes surrendering majority control was a mistake. He also argues that the arrangement has damaged the relationship between supporters and their club.
According to him, Rio Ave have around 8,500 registered members, but only 2,100 are up to date with their membership fees.
He also questioned the current president’s dual role as head of both the club and its football company.
“The company pays her salary. If a difficult decision comes up, which side will she choose? The club’s or the company that pays her?” he asked.
Fernandes considers that a potential conflict of interests. If elected, he promises to serve exclusively as club president, leaving the football company to appoint its own leadership.
He isn’t proposing to remove Marinakis or abandon outside investment, though. Instead, he wants a different relationship with the ownership structure.
“I understand that no investor wants to lose money, but we’ll try to cooperate to reach an agreement,” he explained.
His aim is to protect the investor’s financial interests without allowing Rio Ave to suffer.
So, should Fernandes win, Marinakis could find himself dealing with a club president considerably less willing to accept the current way of doing business.
