Nottingham Forest Lodge Appeal Against Points Deduction

Nottingham Forest filed an appeal on Monday, challenging the four-point deduction imposed for violating Premier League finance regulations.

“Nottingham Forest can confirm that it has today lodged an appeal against the four point sanction imposed by the Commission in relation to the Club’s breach of the Premier League’s Profit & Sustainability Rules,” the club stated in a brief statement posted on its Facebook page.

“The club will not be making any further statement at this time,” Forest said.

On March 18, the Premier League club was punished four points after admitting that it had over its profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) threshold of £61 million ($77.5 million) by £34.5 million.

Forest responded at the time, saying they were “extremely disappointed” by the decision and “dismayed by the tone” of the Premier League’s reasoning.

“We believe that the high levels of cooperation the club has shown during this process, and which are confirmed and recorded in the commission’s decision, were not reciprocated by the Premier League,” Forest stated in a statement issued last week.

The four-point deduction moved them into the relegation zone, one point behind 17th-placed Luton and four behind Everton.

Premier League clubs are typically given a maximum loss of £105 million over a three-year evaluation period, which is lowered by £22 million per season for any seasons spent in the Championship.

Forest were promoted to the Premier League in May 2022 after a 23-year hiatus, which meant they spent two seasons in the Championship within their three-year assessment period.

Forest are the second top-flight team to be fined for PSR violations this season, following Everton’s 10-point punishment in November, which was reduced to six on appeal.

The committee which handed the fine on Forest indicated the club’s breach was “serious”.

“The four points sanction is not to punish Forest so much as it is to be fair to the other clubs; to give the public confidence that when a club invests as Forest did to compete in the Premier League, it still needs to comply with the PSR threshold for losses,” the report stated.

Forest’s defence was based on the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham on September 1, 2023, however the transaction occurred after the PSR deadline of June 30.

The English Premier League has previously said that the appeals procedure should “conclude no later than and if possible some time before 24 May”, which is five days after the season’s final weekend.

With a second case against Everton still pending and Forest’s appeal filed, relegation from the Premier League this season may be decided in court days after the final ball is thrown on the pitch.

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