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Premier League club Nottingham Forest have lost their appeal against an approximate USD 960,000 fine issued by the Football Association (FA). The whole incident tracks back to when Nottingham Forest had put out a tweet about VAR official Stuart Attwell after their 2-0 loss to Everton in the 2024 Premier League season. Forest was in the relegation battle, struggling to stay away from the bottom of the table alongside Luton Town. Every match result at that stage mattered for the club as it could lead to potential relegation. During this period, they ended up losing their fixture against Everton by a scoreline of 2-0. The Forest’s official social media account came lashing out at the VAR official for that match for not giving three different penalty decisions in their favor, by saying that he was a Luton Town fan and hence had a conflict of interest.
The club said that it had raised these concerns before the game itself to the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) which oversees professional games in England. Later after the game as well, Nottingham Forest submitted a formal request to the PGMOL to release the audio recordings between the officials during the game.
Change of fortunes in this season for Forest
While the FA did acknowledge the request from Nottingham Forest to release the audio recordings, the Premier League was not happy by the statements made by the club. They said, “It is never appropriate to improperly question the integrity of match officials, and the nature comments means the Premier League will also be investigating the matter in relation to the league’s rules.”
Fast forwarding to the current season, Forest are enjoying some of the best results they have had in long-time as they sit at number three in the Premier League standings after recently defeating Manchester City. They are also playing the quarter-finals of the FA Cup against Everton at the end of this month.
