Nottingham Forest's appeal against a four-point deduction from the Premier League for breaching profitability and sustainability standards (PSR) has been rejected.
Forest said when the punishment was imposed in March that they were “extremely disappointed” and claimed that spending restrictions on promoted clubs undermined the “integrity and competitiveness” of the league.
A Premier League appeals board heard the case and the verdict leaves Forest three points above the relegation zone with two games remaining. They took a big step towards retaining their Premier League status by winning at Sheffield United last Saturday.
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The forest encroachment led to losses of £61m and £34.5m. first division Clubs can lose £105m over a three-year period, but Forest's allowable losses were limited to £61m because they spent two years of the period in the Championship. The losses allowed to clubs are reduced by £22 million for each season over a three-year accounting period they spend in the EFL.
The Premier League said: “The club argued that the independent commission made an error by not treating the sale of a high-profile player (Brennan Johnson) shortly after the evaluation period as a mitigating factor, and that it made a further error by choosing not suspend part or all of the point deduction that was imposed. Each of these grounds was rejected by the appeal board, which concluded that the independent commission was entitled to immediately impose the sanction it did impose. Therefore, the four-point deduction will be maintained.”
