0
0
Nottingham Forest has been punished four points for violating Premier League profit and sustainability regulations.
The Premier League has lost four points from Nottingham Forest for failing to comply with Profit and Sustainability criteria.
Everton were docked 10 points earlier this season – reduced to six on appeal – for failing to follow the criteria until the end of 2021-22, setting a precedent.
In that occasion, the Toffees had over the boundaries by £19.5m, and the expectation was that Forest would suffer a bare minimum of a six-point penalty for their illegal deficit being bigger than that of Everton’s.
Despite Forest spending £34.5 million more than the Premier League’s £61 million cap for a newly promoted team, the league has deemed a four-point penalty sufficient.
Following a comprehensive investigation by an independent commission, Nottingham Forest’s “exceptional cooperation” resulted in their sentence being reduced from six points to four.
Nottingham Hotspur suffers point deduction and fell into Premier League relegation zone
According to the stated reasons, Forest received three points for what the Premier League refers to as a ‘entry point for a grave breach’.
The ‘circumstances and scale of the admitted breach’ received an additional three points, with the two-point decrease defined as’mitigation’.
The general statement read: “An independent Commission has imposed an immediate four-point deduction on Nottingham Forest FC for violating the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSRs) for the period ending Season 2022/23.
“On 15 January, Nottingham Forest was referred to an independent Commission after the club admitted that it had exceeded the relevant PSR threshold of £61 million by £34.5 million.”
“The criteria was less than £105 million since the club spent two seasons of the assessment period in the EFL Championship. The case was heard in compliance with the new Premier League Rules, which require PSR cases to be addressed within the same season in which they are filed.
“The independent Commission imposed the fine following a two-day hearing this month, during which the club was able to identify a number of mitigating reasons. The Commission determined that the club displayed “exceptional cooperation” in its dealings with the Premier League throughout the process.
Forest can appeal, claiming that the infringement of the restrictions was caused in part by delaying three months to maximize the amount of money gained by Brennan Johnson’s sale to Tottenham Hotspur.
Forest would have made less money but met the rules if they had sold the Welsh international to Brentford for £30 million before the June 30 deadline. Despite violating restrictions, waiting until the transfer window closed resulted in an additional £17.5 million in transfer payments.
Forest is presently in the Premier League relegation zone, one point below Luton Town after a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
