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Nottingham Forest left frustrated at the verdict of their appeal against points deduction

Nottingham Forest have been left frustrated at the verdict of their appeal against the points deduction for breaching PSR rules.

The club have been unsuccessful in their appeal against the four-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

In March, an independent commission appointed by the Premier League docked Forest four points after they admitted to overspending by £34.5m over a period of three years.

Although Forest could have faced a six-point penalty according to the guidelines, the Premier League instead issued a less severe punishment due to their “early plea” and “excellent co-operation”.

Forest gave their defence during a hearing on the 24th of April, but the independent commission has chosen to uphold the original penalty.

As it stands, Forest currently sit 17th in the table, 3 points above 18th place Luton, 5 points above 19th place Burnley and the relegation zone with only two matches remaining in the season.

PREMIER LEAGUE STATEMENT:

An independent Appeal Board has upheld the decision of a Commission to deduct four points from Nottingham Forest following an admitted breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

The PSR sanction applied to the assessment period ending Season 2022/23 and was appealed by the club on two grounds. The club argued that the independent Commission committed an error in not treating its sale of a high-profile player shortly after the assessment period as a mitigating factor, and that it committed a further error in electing not to suspend some or all of the points deduction it imposed. Each of these grounds was rejected by the Appeal Board, which found the independent Commission was entitled to immediately impose the sanction it did. The four-point deduction will therefore remain in place.

Click here to read the independent Appeal Board’s full written reasons.

Appeal Boards are independent of the Premier League and member clubs. The Appeal Board in this case comprised of the Rt Hon Lord Dyson (chair), David Phillps KC and Daniel Alexander KC, each of whom was appointed by the independent Chair of the Premier League Judicial Panel.

After receiving the points deduction, the club initially said “extremely dismayed by the tone and content of the Premier League’s submissions”, then added “also surprised that the Premier League gave no consideration at all to the unique circumstances of the club and its mitigation”.

Forest argued that they were placed at a serious disadvantage to the other Premier League clubs who had significantly higher spending limits due to their longevity in the top flight.

But now that the verdict is in, least Nuno Espirito Santo and his side know what their dealing with going into the final games of the season, with Forest practically safe if they beat Chelsea at the City Ground on Saturday, before their final game of the season at Burnley.

Luton are three points behind Forest but have a much worse goal difference. The Hatters’ final two games are at home so they have a real chance of surviving if Forest drop points.

Burnley are five points adrift of safety and need to win their two remaining games and rely on Luton and Forest dropping points.

A tough game against Tottenham this weekend next up for them, but they do host Forest on the final day.

The Athletic’s Nottingham Forest correspondent Paul Taylor analysed the verdict and situation now regarding Forest:

“At least Nottingham Forest now finally have clarity over what they need to do to secure a third season of Premier League football.

“There is significant frustration behind the scenes at the City Ground that their appeal against their four-point punishment for breaching profit and sustainability regulations has been unsuccessful.

“There was a feeling among the Forest hierarchy that the punishment had been too severe. We now know that mood was not reflected by the appeals panel that heard their case on Wednesday April 24.

“But the club now have clarity over what will be required to avoid being sucked into the bottom three and, ultimately, back into the Championship.

“And it remains very much in their own hands. They know their fate will have to be decided on a pitch, not in an office.”

Forest were accused of overspending, with 42 players joining the City Ground for a total exceeding £250 million since their return to the Premier League.

On the 15th of January, they were directed to an independent Commission after admitting to breaching the relevant PSR threshold.

While Premier League clubs are permitted to incur losses of up to £105m over three years, Forest’s allowable losses were capped at £61m due to spending two years in the Championship during that period.

This is how Twitter users reacted with Nottingham Forest left frustrated at the verdict of their appeal against points deduction…

@Owen27078397: Weird that everyone was reporting us getting 1 or 2 back. All of a sudden after the weekends games where we pulled 3 clear we now aren’t getting any back. Clear corruption!! #NFFC

@CarlosNFFC: The agenda continues… they really do want us to go down. Can’t wait for us to stay up and stick 2 fingers up to them #NFFC

@jordanhallett91: Not ideal, but to be honest the club should have known better in the first place 🙃 Get the job done on the pitch on Saturday and none of this will matter. #NFFC

@OlliePitt87: We know what we have to do Saturday, beat Chelsea and we are safe simple as. Time for talk is over. Believe in the players and the gaffer. Up the fucking reds #NFFC

@JamieWilliams1: I think the biggest question to come out of all this corruption in the league is why are we not paying the refs off and Sky / PGMOL whoever we need to pay. #nffc allegedly seems everyone else seems to be

@domlikesrabbits: Let’s hope the owner learns from this and does things better going forwards. Sadly, I won’t be holding my breath. #NFFC

@ForestFanBase: Let’s face it the Premier League is less about the game and so much about everything else… That’s why it sucks so much and is getting worse. Give us our game back. ⚽️💯 #nffc #coyr

@rhoggy81: @premierleague stinks of corruption, why not release this before the weekend?? 🤔 #NFFC

@loose_tip: Least we finally have clarity! Is anyone genuinely surprised 🤷‍♂️. We just need a win and it’s done #nffc

@OOffthepitch: Regardless of the appeal it’s not out of the question for us to be safe before we kick off Saturday, would have been great to get something back but for us to go down now would take a minor miracle! It’s still in our hands can’t wait for Saturday! #NFFC

@13bradking: Whether the Premier league is actively trying to create a relegation battle or not is irrelevant. If you don’t have standardised processes on how long these things are going to take people are going to assume the worst 🤷🏼‍♂️ #NFFC

@Chef_3861: Of course we’re unsuccessful. Had we lost or drawn at the weekend, we’d have had a point or two back. But we can’t have #nffc going into the final day of the season with no relegation battle with Burnley can we? Where’s the theatre in that. Corruption.

@TalkingRedsPod: Remember folks – Luton HAVE to beat West Ham and Burnley HAVE to beat Spurs, both away from home on Saturday… It ain’t gonna happen. We’ll be safe before we even kick-off at 17:30. #nffc

@gemlford: Wow didn’t expect this! 🤣 Let’s try everything to not let the 3 teams who’s come up get relegated. That would look really bad on the @premierleague! How’s Everton’s appeal and Man City’s charges going? Bet that’s a different story! #NFFC

@atreebyariver: No great surprise there, we’d already had points back in the original decision. We know what we need to do and following Saturday’s result it should be well within our capability #nffc

@NForestForever: They obviously didn’t want to relegate Burnley today did they. Sky would have been very upset #NFFC

@NFFCallover: So after the rumours of points back last week, the tune has changed- Everton (deservedly) got 4 back, but we get nothing. 👉 The timing of the process and appeals has been nothing short of disgraceful. For your sake @premierleague you better hope Forest survive. #NFFC

@PaulWalford1991: It’s very clear they waited for the weekends results this league is corrupt to the core. Sky and TNT need something to pull the viewers in over the next two weeks cause let’s face it the title and top 4 race is done with. #NFFC #PremierLeague

@Nic_Ancelin: No surprises here. Maybe a different story if we hadn’t pointed out the blatant biases and rightly criticised VAR/referee appointments. #nffc

@GarethJD: Loudest boos ever for that stupid PL anthem pre kick off at the weekend #NFFC

@BrummieTricky: Broadcasters want an exciting premier and the corrupt system has delivered it. 1000% we get points back if we don’t win Saturday. You can’t have a league where it shows you need to spend 300m for a newly promoted team just to compete, which it is. #nffc

@ReddogMacca: It’s all over now thank goodness, time to move on, let’s get the CG rocking Saturday and make ourselves safe then the party can begin, if prior results help us all the better #nffc

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