London: Nottingham Forest were plunged into the Premier League relegation zone on Monday after having four points deducted for breaking financial rules last season.
The deduction, announced by the league, left Forest in 18th place in the standings with 21 points, one behind Luton Town and four clear of 19th placed Burnley.
Forest, European champions in 1979 and 1980, have seven days to appeal the decision.
The Premier League said an independent commission had applied the immediate deduction after a two-day hearing “for a breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for the period ending Season 2022/23.” The statement noted that Forest had admitted to breaching the threshold of 61 million pounds ($77.6 million) by 34.5 million.
In a statement, Forest said they were extremely disappointed with the decision.
“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 Midlands club said.
“We believe that the high levels of cooperation the Club has shown during this process, and which are confirmed and recorded in the Commission’s decision, were not reciprocated by the Premier League.” Premier League clubs are allowed to lose 105 million pounds over three seasons but two years of Forest’s assessment period were spent in the second tier Championship, meaning they could lose only a maximum of 61 million.
PSR was introduced in 2013 to level the playing field and prevent clubs with rich ownership groups from spending vast sums on players.
Transfers record
Greek businessman Evangelos Marinakis, chairman of shipping group Capital Maritime, took over Forest in 2017 and also owns Greek club Olympiakos.
Forest broke the record for most transfers (21) by a Premier League club in the close-season window after their promotion in May 2022.
The Premier League said the club, who were charged last January, had demonstrated ‘exceptional cooperation’ in their dealings with the Premier League throughout the process.
Forest are the second Premier League club to be deducted points this season for finance breaches, with Everton having 10 taken away in November before the sanction was reduced to six on appeal this month.
Everton are still waiting on a potential second punishment relating to 2022-23.
Last year, Manchester City were referred to an independent commission over more than 100 alleged breaches of finance rules since the club were acquired by the Abu Dhabi-based City Football Group in 2008.
No verdict has been reached in that case. Premier League CEO Richard Masters said in January that a date had been set for a hearing. City have denied any wrongdoing.
Clubs in England’s top flight have previously been docked points.
In 2010, Portsmouth received a nine-point penalty when the club entered administration, while Middlesbrough had three points taken off them in 1997 when they failed to fulfil a fixture.
