When somebody completely new enters the public consciousness a very specific genre of journalism typically follows. Let’s call it the “Who is … ?” piece. For example ...

Who is Erin Patterson, host of the mushroom lunch that killed three people? Who was Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist shot dead in the US? Who is Raygun, the Olympic breakdancer who went viral? Who is Gout Gout, the uber-talented teenage sprinter likened to Usain Bolt?

The “Who is … ?″⁣ piece is also utilised when a public figure begins a new relationship with somebody less public.

A few come to mind. Who is Amal Alamuddin, the international human rights lawyer dating George Clooney? Who is Travis Kelce, the NFL star dating Taylor Swift? Who is Ella Emhoff, stepdaughter of Kamala Harris?

Depending on the subject, the content is varying degrees of interesting. Sometimes, however, you strike gold. Sometimes, as is the case with Ange Postecoglou’s new English Premier League boss, the keywords are “drug trafficking”, “match fixing” and “cigar smoking”.

So, without further ado ... who is Evangelos Marinakis, the Nottingham Forest owner cleared of wrongdoing on all the above allegations (except the cigar smoking)? What do we know about the Greek shipping billionaire who still owns an iPhone 7 in 2025? Which song lyrics did he write, who did he spit at, and why is he suing Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff? If he is also a philanthropist, and our Ange deems him worthy to work with? Is the rest just a misunderstanding?

The life and times of Marinakis could be presented like a Netflix documentary, spending the first half drip-feeding the audience only one version of the 58-year-old until they are convinced he is either only good or only bad, then smacking them in the face with the alternate reality. Colourful creatures like this exist everywhere – and there are certainly a few in football – which makes it tough to pick a point of entry.

Perhaps it’s best to begin with the easy stuff: shipping, media and football ownership.

Marinakis, who is from Piraeus, on the edge of Athens, and long married with four children, is the founder and chairman of international shipping company Capital Maritime & Trading Corp, having taken over his father’s fleet of seven tankers and grown it into some 120 vessels. In 2018 he merged his fleet with that of Donald Trump’s former commerce secretary Wilbur Ross (Diamond S Shipping), which he later labelled his “worst business decision”.

In 2017, he was named Greek Shipping Personality of the Year by British publication Lloyd’s List. Last year, he received an honorary doctorate from the renowned US-based Massachusetts Maritime Academy. He has also been at the forefront of reducing greenhouse gas emissions within the shipping industry, as part of an alliance that founded the Maritime Emissions Reduction Centre (MERC) in Greece.

Ange Postecoglou with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis in July.

Marinakis the media mogul owns two of Greece’s most influential daily newspapers, Ta Nea and To Vima, and in 2019 launched a Greek television channel, One Channel. His company, Alter Ego Media, is the largest media organisation in Greece. A little-referenced detail is that he has also dabbled in songwriting and wrote lyrics for Greek pop artist Natasa Theodoridou’s smash hit

© The Age