Evangelos Marinakis: The story of the King of Piraeus’s life, work & love of soccer

It was 3.15 within the morning. I might been sitting for five-and-a-half hours, in clouds of cigar smoke, inside the chief lounge of the Georgios Kairaskakis Stadium, ready for my closing viewers with the King of Piraeus.

That is not his official title, however it may as effectively be. As a result of most issues on this southern a part of Athens are both run or influenced by Evangelos Marinakis: the enigmatic, mysterious and imposing proprietor of Olympiacos in Greece, Nottingham Forest in England, Rio Ave in Portugal and [we expect soon] Vasco de Gama in Brazil.

Myself and cameraman Chris Johnson spent three days in southern Greece, the place we had been granted unprecedented entry to Marinakis and his soccer and enterprise operations. The journey had been greater than a 12 months within the planning, largely as a result of the person himself, and his huge forged of advisors and help employees, wanted repeated convincing that permitting Sky Sports activities into his inside sanctum was a venture price his time.

I had lastly reached settlement in precept six months or so in the past, within the late spring – the following delays had been logistical, as a result of he’s infinitely busy, with an ever-changing schedule. Because it was, we flew to Greece removed from sure that he would have the ability to see us – he’d been delayed on enterprise in America, and the fastidiously deliberate itinerary had already gone out of the window earlier than we touched down on the Athens tarmac.

In the long run, we received what we went for. After which some. We had been afforded a singular perception into the person and his empire, together with probably the most private and revealing UK interview he has ever finished.

That is the story of Evangelos Marinakis: his life, his work and his love of soccer.

Marinakis’ estimated price is in extra of £2.5 billion. His transport empire has greater than 100 ships, with a complete of round 20,000 crew members at sea at anyone time. He’s an influential native councillor in Piraeus, and all of the folks on this port district of Athens are as daunted as they’re adoring of this larger-than-life character.

Marinakis’ generosity is extensively recognised all through the land. He has given tens of millions to a kids’s most cancers charity, he produced 60,000 free scorching meals for refugees who arrived in Piraeus from the Center East, and throughout the Covid pandemic, he was forward of the Greek authorities in shopping for and offering key medical tools for native hospitals. In return, he calls for whole respect, and is fastidious in his necessities.

He has an unlimited private safety operation, which underlines simply how invaluable his property is, and the way necessary he’s in Greece. After we first arrived at his Capital Maritime workplaces in Piraeus and pulled up exterior, our rent automotive was instantly surrounded by a number of black-clad safety guards, who demanded to know who we had been, why we had been there, and whether or not we had permission.

With out ceremony, they took our automotive keys, and we puzzled whether or not we’d ever see the automotive once more. Marinakis has an in depth private safety operation that accompanies him in every single place he goes. When he travels in his dwelling city, a number of motorbike outriders flank his automotive – even when he’s popping to his favorite restaurant, who at all times preserve his normal desk prepared, simply in case he decides he’s hungry.

Marinakis’ willpower to guard himself and his repute is epitomised by what occurred within the UK Excessive Courtroom a couple of weeks in the past. He’s suing the chairwoman of Aris Thessaloniki for defamation, claiming that she has waged a smear marketing campaign in opposition to him.

He claims Irini Karipides organised a cell billboard to parade across the Metropolis Floor on Nottingham Forest matchdays, and likewise arrange a web site to unfold damaging revelations about him. In flip, she claims Marinakis has held a grudge in opposition to her household for years which fits past any soccer or enterprise rivalry. Marinakis vehemently denies these allegations and at enormous expense, is decided to clear his title within the Excessive Courtroom.

Whether or not in soccer or enterprise, he’s exacting in his requirements. Marinakis calls for the easiest of the whole lot, however he shares that bounty with the entire chosen ones round him, particularly along with his lavish hospitality. For on a regular basis we had been in Piraeus, we had been supplied the best seafood, and a continuing stream of the easiest wines (which, I ought to level out, we did not partake in). Even once we thought we had been having a quiet meal on our personal, once I tried to pay, I used to be knowledgeable by the employees that our invoice had already been settled. Everybody is aware of him in these elements, and his affect and generosity unfold far and broad.

We might been in Greece for greater than 24 hours, and had seen no signal of Mr Marinakis. He had solely flown in from America within the early hours, we had been instructed, and was resting. He by no means likes to be disturbed anyway earlier than lunchtime. He at all times works late into the evening, as we had been to study.

He does not sleep a lot, he later instructed me off digital camera, his thoughts by no means at relaxation. Loads of his time within the quietest hours of the day are spent creating his personal authentic oil work and different types of artwork, as an sudden type of launch from the inevitable strains of being one of many richest and most profitable businessmen on the planet. He has his personal artwork gallery on the bottom flooring of his transport workplaces which is awash with authentic fashionable artworks, intermingled with these he has created himself.

So, in his absence, we got a tour of the atmospheric, historic Olympiacos stadium, of the well-appointed Olympiacos coaching floor, and [cameras off for this bit] we had been handled to an expensive lunch by the port aspect with a few of his nearest and dearest aides. “When might we get to do our first filming with Mr Marinakis?” I enquired. Nobody may inform me. Besides to say solely when – and if – he felt prepared.

Then, out of nowhere, there was a flurry of exercise amongst his advisors, who had clearly all acquired simultaneous messages that stated he needed to see me in an hour’s time. Preparations had been made, plans modified, and we sped to the opposite aspect of the town to arrange at his enterprise headquarters, the place we had been met by these fervent safety guards. Inside Piraeus, he has three separate company bases, relying on the work he’s doing and the purchasers he’s entertaining.

As soon as inside, we had been proven to one among his boardrooms to proceed our wait. Finally, we had been taken by to his huge workplace to arrange the cameras. Inside was an enormous walnut desk, a round eight-seater stable walnut convention desk, plush leather-based sofas and an unbelievable array of photographs and memorabilia. And an enormous purple bulldog statue on the ground which was too heavy to maneuver.

Photograph frames had been in every single place, principally stuffed with photos of his household. One wall was taken up totally by non secular imagery, with an enormous depiction of Jesus Christ within the centre. Marinakis was introduced up in a religious Greek Orthodox household, and faith stays essential to him.

Above his desk was an enormous, old-style map of the world, measuring possibly 12 toes by eight toes, with magnetic ships dotted in each single ocean of the globe. That is how Marinakis likes to plot the place his enormous fleet is at anyone time, he later defined to me. To me, it appeared a logistical nightmare. However he instructed me he finds it therapeutic, and calming, to know he’s throughout all of his property.

On the aspect wall was what can solely be described as a shrine to his father – Miltiadis Marinakis – who was his mentor and his inspiration. A transport tycoon from Crete, Marinakis senior had additionally purchased a stake in Olympiacos FC, and sometimes took a younger Evangelos with him to see the gamers or spend time on the membership, firstly within the Nineteen Seventies.

So it’s that the son is following within the father’s footsteps, while additionally massively increasing each the household enterprise and sporting empires. Above and past soccer, Marinakis invests in and helps 17 different sports activities in Piraeus and past, together with volleyball, water polo, crusing, boxing, athletics, and taekwondo.

He has begun to duplicate that multi-sport mannequin in England too, with the newly created Nottingham Forest Netball franchise, and Marinakis’ determination to make the entire Forest girls’s staff full-time professionals, who play their dwelling matches on the Metropolis Floor, though they’re at present within the third tier.

After ready one other 45 minutes or so whereas Marinakis completed a enterprise name in one other room, lastly I received to satisfy the person himself, as he re-entered his workplace. He cuts an imposing determine, along with his massive stature and regal beard, however there’s a pure attraction to his persona too. He greeted me with a heat smile, a agency handshake and a glance in his steely eyes which appeared to warn me, earlier than we even began, that I should not attempt any trick questions. As if I might dare.

After some well mannered soccer small speak and far dialogue along with his advisers about whether or not his chair was comfy and the backdrop appropriate, we received right down to enterprise. The cameras began rolling. I needed to know firstly about his household, and why Piraeus and Olympiacos had been so necessary to him. Issues began effectively, he was amiable and fascinating. Then I interrupted one among his solutions.

I used to be decided – as I at all times am with my interviews – that this must be a dialog, not an “I ask, you answer” formal tennis match. But it surely shortly turned obvious to me that this isn’t a person used to being interrupted.

Now, his momentum stemmed, he paused for what felt like a lifetime, checked out me low and stern by his piercing brown eyes, stated merely “yes” and continued along with his assertion, ignoring my diversion. Undeterred, I continued in my conversational type, hoping to interrupt down some boundaries. A dangerous technique for certain. His advisors twitched nervously of their seats. However my interviewee appeared to understand the method. He started to open up, and all of a sudden nothing was off the agenda.

Fairly quickly, Marinakis supplied up a vastly sudden tender aspect, as he welled up with tears once I requested him to inform me concerning the second he took the Europa Convention League trophy to his father’s graveside. Received by Olympiacos in Might, they turned the primary Greek membership ever to assert a serious UEFA trophy. It was one of the emotional moments of his life, and he needed to dedicate it and share it along with his father, he stated – the person who had impressed him, and first instilled in him a love of soccer.

I apologised for upsetting him, and he smiled reassuringly at me. That appeared to interrupt the ice nonetheless additional, as he warmed to our dialog.

What got here subsequent was a revealing and deeply private dialog. He spoke overtly about his household, his background, his love for Olympiacos and Piraeus, and his long-rooted admiration for Nottingham Forest, which had been born throughout his time at boarding college in England within the early Eighties, when, he stated, Forest and Liverpool had been the 2 dominant English groups. Each performed in purple, he identified – matching the Olympiacos colors, and a prerequisite for him to develop into a fan, and later the proprietor.

He spoke overtly about Edu, the grasp soccer director who he has persuaded to go away Arsenal – contractual preparations are ongoing, he instructed me, earlier than the Brazilian legend takes over Marinakis’ worldwide soccer operation.

He defined his frequent and unstable arguments with the English soccer authorities, and his steadfast refusal to vary or again down; his dismay with what he feels are poor refereeing requirements within the Premier League; his anger at VAR and the way he finds it inexplicable that, with a number of digital camera angles and time to test, they don’t seem to be excellent of their determination making; his willpower to make Forest a longtime a part of the Premier League “Big Six”, and the way he’s eager to re-invest in January to attempt to make that occur; and he instructed me of his ambitions to increase his soccer portfolio by buying a giant membership in Brazil, confirming negotiations are underway to accumulate Vasco da Gama.

It was an unbelievable interview that he gave me, and with every new sentence, it felt like he was delivering an explosive new headline. Every thing this man says is important.

That was the principle course – a close to 40-minute rollercoaster of stories and emotion. Now, on day two, we had been there for the dessert, and a closing little bit of filming with him contained in the stadium. He’d invited us to be his particular visitors for Olympiacos’s 1-1 draw with Rangers within the Europa League, and there we had been in his government lounge, watching a gradual stream of locals as they had been invited – no, directed – that it was their flip to go behind the heavy curtain to talk to Mr Marinakis.

Moments later, Mrs Marinakis and her daughter left the desk and walked our approach. Athanasia Marinakis, with whom Mr Marinakis has three women and a boy, got here to talk to me and shake my hand. She apologised for not having spent extra time with me, however defined that she should go away – her daughter had college within the morning and it was already previous midnight. She smiled, instructed me to ask for something I needed, and she or he and her daughter had been escorted out of the stadium by extra safety guards.

Throughout me, senior officers had enormous smiles on their faces, as they defined that this was one of the prized honours that Mr Marinakis may bestow – being given particular consideration by the inside household. I will need to have made a superb impression the day gone by, they stated.

Then, after three hours of ready, I received referred to as in to see him. One of many half dozen or extra particular advisors who had been buzzing and fussing across the basic neighborhood, pointed to me, instructed me my presence was required, and so they hurried me into the midst and mist of cigar smoke engulfing Mr Marinakis’ personal desk. Not the cameraman, they stated, simply me. I used to be now, in each sense, backstage.

There, Mr Marinakis pulled me in for a photograph with him and one other dignitary who had offered him with an enormous ceremonial sword, emblazoned with the phrase “Olympiacos.” Marinakis himself was animated and delighted, relishing his position of host, beaming as he beckoned me in. The opposite personally invited ones across the desk had been considerably bemused about why I might been proven such particular therapy, however they smiled and nodded in the direction of me: as the topic of Marinakis’s consideration for that second, they knew their position was to be well mannered and attentive.

Two minutes later, again to my seat exterior I went, and the wait went on. It was gone 3am when he lastly completed his different enterprise, and Mr Marinakis joined us for a fast soccer chat and a few photographs of him within the empty stadium. 4 minutes, tops. However once more, he was pleasant and accommodating and – in contrast to us – did not appear in any respect drained.

He would keep it up entertaining and dealing lengthy into the evening, we had been instructed. As we left the stadium, the Athens streets had been abandoned. Native folks can be getting up for work quickly. And we needed to seize a couple of hours sleep earlier than heading to the airport and a flight again to Heathrow.

It was, no doubt, one of many strangest, most disconcerting however most memorable interview experiences of my life, unfold over three days within the South of Athens.

I used to be left in little question about this man’s energy and affect, his wealth, the deferential requirements he expects, his unapologetic single-mindedness, his innate instincts to problem these in energy. However I used to be additionally moved by his generosity, his pure attraction and heat, his participating character and – above all else – his willpower and keenness to achieve the whole lot he does.

He’s already notorious in Greece, and far additional afield for his enterprise and footballing prowess. In England, he took Forest from their worst begin to a season in 108 years to promotion from the Championship in that very same season. Now, of their third season within the Premier League, they’re in amongst the golf equipment simply exterior the highest six.

Marinakis’ abrasive character and fast wit, his unflinching requirements, his successful smile and mentality, and the way in which he appears to always conflict with the soccer authorities – all are immediately paying homage to Forest’s most well-known son, Brian Clough. That’s not a comparability that anybody in Nottingham ought to make flippantly.

It’s a heady mixture of energy and character that has already assured Marinakis cult-hero standing with the supporters on Trentside.