Latest Nottingham Forest news as Reds discover the outcome of an appeal hearing over points punishment for FFP infraction.
The Premier League has confirmed that Nottingham Forest’s points deduction appeal was unsuccessful.
The Reds were punished four points in March for violating the Profitability and Sustainability Rules. They appealed the ruling and appeared in front of an independent commission for a hearing last month.
However, the original sentence was upheld. Forest sit three points above the relegation zone with two games remaining.
The Premier League said in a statement: “An independent Appeal Board has maintained a Commission’s decision to remove four points from Nottingham Forest following an admitted infraction of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
“The PSR sentence applied to the evaluation period ending Season 2022/23, and the club filed an appeal on two grounds. The club claimed that the independent Commission made a mistake in not considering its sale of a high-profile player (Brennan Johnson) shortly after the assessment period as a mitigating factor, and that it also made a mistake in refusing to suspend some or all of the points deduction it imposed. The Appeal Board rejected each of these arguments, concluding that the independent Commission was within its rights to apply the sentence immediately. The four-point deduction will so stay in effect.
The appeal board for the Reds hearing consisted of Rt Hon Lord Dyson (chair), David Phillps KC, and Daniel Alexander KC. Each member of the appeal board was nominated by the Premier League’s independent judicial panel chair.
Forest had hoped for at least a point back and had expected to learn the results last week. Nuno Espirito Santo, the team’s head coach, has called the entire situation a “mess” multiple times.
Top-flight clubs are allowed a maximum of £105 million in losses over a three-year period, which is cut to £61 million for promoted teams. The Reds were deemed to have exceeded their permissible losses by £34.5 million.
