Nottingham Forest Receives Four-Point Deduction For Breaching Premier League’s Rules

Nottingham Forest has received a four-point deduction for violating Premier League profit and sustainability rules.

Forest, who are likely to appeal the ruling, had a hearing on 7 and 8 March.

Premier League clubs can lose £105m over three seasons – £35m per campaign – but, because Forest spent two years of the assessment period in the Championship, their maximum loss was only permitted to be £61m.

The league’s rules state any appeals process should “conclude no later than and if possible some time before 24 May”, five days after the final day of this season.

Forest were charged in January and the Premier League said in a statement that both they and Everton “confirmed that they are in breach of the league’s profitability and sustainability rules“.

Forest, who hired leading sports lawyer Nick de Marco to defend them, is thought to have based their case around the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham in September.

The move, worth more than £45m, took place after the accounting deadline but Forest argues selling Johnson at a later date allowed them to earn a higher fee than if they had sold him by 30 June.

Forest was promoted in May 2022 and signed a British record 22 new players that summer, reportedly spending £150m.

After the charge two months ago, Forest said they were “confident of a speedy and fair resolution“.

Everton is waiting on a potential second punishment, relating to the assessment period ending with their 2022-23 accounts.

Manchester City was also referred to an independent commission in February 2023 after more than 100 alleged rule breaches.