Nottingham Forest have decided to appeal against the four-point penalty handed to them for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability rules.
Forest were handed the punishment last Monday, plunging them into the bottom three, one point below Luton Town.
The decision came just a few weeks after Everton’s initial 10-point penalty was reduced to six on appeal, with their second hearing still to conclude.
With a tight timeframe available to the club, Forest have confirmed they are to lodge an appeal against the penalty, with a hearing set to take place in the next three weeks.
Forest were, like Everton, set to receive six points, but two were taken off because of the club’s cooperation during the process.
However, in a statement released after the penalty was handed out, Forest were still furious at being punished at all, in a scathing attack on the Premier League.
The statement read: “Nottingham Forest is extremely disappointed with the decision of the Commission to impose a sanction on the Club of four points, to be applied with immediate effect.
“We were extremely dismayed by the tone and content of the Premier League’s submissions before the Commission.
“After months of engagement with the Premier League, and exceptional cooperation throughout, this was unexpected and has harmed the trust and confidence we had in the Premier League.”
The tone of the club statement makes it no real surprise that an appeal has been lodged, but there were fears that they could be sanctioned further if they opted to appeal.
However, Sky Sports News claim that it is very unlikely that will happen, and Forest therefore see the appeal as a free hit, with their lawyers confident that they have a strong case to put forward, given the mitigating circumstances surrounding their case.
Forest further made note of this later on in their statement after being handed the four-point deduction, with one of the main mitigating circumstances being the sale of Brennan Johnson last summer.
“We were also surprised that the Premier League gave no consideration at all to the unique circumstances of the Club and its mitigation.
“In circumstances where this approach is followed by future PSR commissions, it would make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for newly promoted clubs without parachute payments to compete, thus undermining the integrity and competitiveness of the Premier League.
“The rationale of the Commission is that clubs should only invest after they have realised a profit on their player development. This reasoning destroys mobility in the football pyramid and the effect of the decision will be to drastically reduce the room for manoeuvre for all such clubs, leading to the stagnation of our national game.”
With Forest expecting to hear the outcome of their appeal by April 12, that could be in a similar period of time to when Everton will learn if they are to be punished for a second time this season, with their hearing taking place this week.
Forest return to action after the international break sitting 18th in the Premier League table, and will face Crystal Palace at the City Ground on Saturday.
Leave a Reply