On Tuesday, the Premier League announced that Nottingham Forest’s appeal against a four-point deduction has been denied.
The club received the deduction in March for breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Despite Forest’s appeal and expressed disappointment with the initial decision, an independent commission upheld the deduction, leaving the club in a precarious relegation battle.
Currently standing at 29 points, they hold a slim three-point lead over 18th-placed Luton, with only two games left in the season. The Premier League confirmed the rejection of the appeal on two grounds in a statement.
“The club argued that the independent commission committed an error in not treating the sale of a high-profile player shortly after the assessment period as a mitigating factor and that it committed a further error in electing not to suspend some or all of the points deduction it imposed,” the Premier League said.
“Each of these grounds was rejected by the Appeal Board, which found the independent Commission was entitled to immediately impose the sanction it did. The four-point deduction will therefore remain in place.”
Earlier this season, Everton successfully appealed against a points deduction, reducing it from 10 to six for breaching Premier League financial rules.
According to Premier League regulations, clubs are restricted to a maximum loss of £105 million ($133.6 million) over three years. However, different rules apply to Forest due to their status in the second-tier championship until 2022.
Championship clubs are allowed a maximum loss of £39m ($49.6 million) across three seasons or £13 million ($16.6 million) per season. Therefore, Forest’s permissible losses over the last three campaigns would total £61m ($77.7m).
In January, Forest was charged with breaching these regulations for the period ending in the 2022–23 season.