Nottingham Forest Points Deduction Appeal Rejected

Nottingham Forest’s appeal against their four-point punishment for breaching Premier League profit and sustainability rules (PSR) was rejected.

On April 24th, the club argued their case, but an appeal board upheld the initial sanction imposed by an independent commission.

The commission found Forest’s losses to 2022-23 breached the threshold of £61m by £34.5m.

It means Forest remain 17th and three points clear of the relegation zone with two games left to play.

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The three-person appeal board arrived at a “unanimous” decision to uphold the original ruling by the commission, describing it as “commendably clear and comprehensive”.

“Some of the criticisms of the [original] decision have involved a minute examination of the words used by the commission,” the board said of Forest’s appeal.

Decisions such as these should not be subjected to microscopic forensic examination and interpreted as if they were statutes which have been drafted by parliamentary counsel.

Allegations of infelicities of language or errors which are not material to the ultimate decision add to the complexity and costs of proceedings and are rarely likely to lead to a successful challenge of a decision.”

In March, Forest dropped into the Premier League’s relegation zone after the initial points deduction.

The Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules allow clubs to lose £105m over three seasons (or £35m per campaign).

The two Championship seasons in the assessment period meant Nottingham Forest could only lose a maximum of £61m under Premier League regulations.

The club’s net transfer spend in the 2022-23 season was £142.8m. They lost an average of £3m across 2020 and 2021 with a further £40m loss in 2022 and £52m in 2023, amounting to a total of £95m.

Forest had been due to receive a six-point deduction – three points for the initial breach and a further three for the size of the breach – but their “early plea” and “cooperation” saw the ban reduced to four points.

The resolution of Forest’s PSR case comes two weeks after their controversial statement on social media following a 2-0 defeat at Everton. The Football Association charged the club with misconduct

Nottingham Forest had three penalty claims rejected and the club claimed they told referees body the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) that the game’s video assistant referee (VAR) Stuart Attwell was allegedly a fan of relegation rivals Luton.