Nottingham Forest hit with HUGE fine for extraordinary VAR outburst following defeat by Everton last season after the FA sought £1MILLION punishment for social media tirade
- Nottingham Forest have been fined £750,000 by the Football Association
- The fine relates to a rant on the club’s social media following a defeat last season
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Nottingham Forest have been handed an eye-watering £750,000 fine for an explosive post on X last spring and have immediately said they will appeal.
The club caused widespread controversy when they questioned the appointment of Stuart Attwell as VAR after a 2-0 defeat at Everton last April and hinted at further action.
Now, in a stunning verdict, de Forest has been ordered to pay a huge fine for their post. An independent commission claimed ‘clear evidence of a lack of genuine remorse’ from the club, saying the FA had ‘requested a sanction of ‘in excess of £1,000,000’.
Forest denied they had questioned the integrity of the officials or brought the game into disrepute.
Forest’s social media post was made around five minutes after last season’s full-time match at Goodison Park.
Nottingham Forest were hit with a £750,000 discovery last season after an extraordinary social media tirade
The social media post was made around five minutes after the full-time defeat to Everton in April
Forest issued an incendiary statement after the 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park
“Three extremely bad decisions – three penalties not given – that we simply cannot accept,” the club wrote on X. “Our patience has been tested several times.” The post added that Forest had ‘warned’ referee chiefs that Attwell was a Luton supporter.
Forest’s statement read: ‘Nottingham Forest Football Club is extremely disappointed with the Regulatory Commission’s decision to impose a fine of £750,000 in relation to comments made on social media following our Premier League match against Everton on Sunday 21 April.
‘We are particularly concerned that the FA has requested a sanction of ‘in excess of £1,000,000’ in its comments. We believe that this request, together with the subsequent fine, is completely disproportionate and that the Club will appeal the decision.”
In July, Forest received an apology from Sky Sports following comments made by pundit Gary Neville after the match against Everton.
Marcel compared Forest’s actions to those of a ‘mafia gang’, with club owner Evangelos Marinakis confirming to Mail Sport that his lawyers had ‘been in contact with Sky about Marcel and this is not over yet.
The result had put Forest in a dangerous position in the Premier League, although they later secured their survival
“The comments and words he used were inappropriate, inconsistent with reality and caused harm to people.”
A statement on the Sky Sports website on July 5 read: ‘In response to a statement from Nottingham Forest outlining their grievances with PGMOL following their match with Everton on April 21, Gary Neville, commentating on Super Sunday, strongly criticized criticism of Nottingham Forest’s approach.
‘Sky Sports spoke to Gary about the language used and its potential to cause offence.
“Gary has agreed not to use the same or similar terms in the future. Sky Sports apologizes to Nottingham Forest for any offense caused by this language.”