Forest Dealt Four-point Deduction

Nottingham Forest has been handed a four point deduction for breaches of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) over the period ending with the 2022/23 season.

An official statement from the Premier League on Monday 18th March confirmed the point deduction, which sees Forest drop into the relegation zone, following a two-day hearing earlier this month. The club now sits 18th in the table on 21 points.

On 15th January, Forest was admitted to an independent commission after acknowledging that it had exceeded the permitted PSR limit of £61m. This is lower than the £105m limit that has been applied to other Premier League clubs, as Forest had spent the two previous seasons in the EFL Championship.

In response to the sanctions, a statement from Forest said the club is ‘extremely disappointed’ by the decision, citing ‘exceptional cooperation’ with the league, and the team’s ‘unique circumstances’ after being promoted in 2022.

The statement continued, ‘The club maintains that it responsibly balanced compliance with PSR with important investment into the squad to give us the ability to compete in the league for the first time in over 20 years.’

‘Of wider concern for all aspirant clubs is the disturbing effect this decision will have on the operation of the player trading model. This is the only model by which clubs outside of the small group at the very top end of the Premier League can realistically advance up the football pyramid. 

‘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.’

Indeed, Forest is the second Premier League club to face punishment for PSR breaches this season, after Everton received a ten-point deduction which was reduced to six earlier this month.

The commission decided that Forest’s penalty should be lighter than Everton’s, partially due to the club’s cooperation throughout the process. Another factor was the club’s restrictions on spending, despite trying to build a squad after promotion to the English top-flight.

Central to the independent commission’s ruling was the transfer of former Forest froward Brennan Johnson. Despite his £47.5m sale to Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the summer transfer window on 1st September, this was not completed ahead of the reporting deadline of 30th June.

Thus, the independent commission concluded that the club’s net transfer spending for the 2022/23 campaign had totalled £142.8m. 

On 30th June, Spanish giants Atletico Madrid had tabled a bid of €50m (£42.77m) for Johnson, referred to as ‘Player A’ throughout the commission’s report. This move however fell through, meaning the player was not sold ahead of the reporting deadline.

Following the outcome of the investigation, the East Midlands outfit now has seven days to launch an appeal against the decision.