Forest fined £750,000 for match officials comments

Nottingham Forest have been fined £750,000 by the Football Association for bringing the game into disrepute after ruling the club questioned the integrity of a match official following their loss to Everton last season.

The club complained on X about three penalty decisions that went against them during a 2-0 defeat by the Toffees at Goodison Park on 21 April.

Forest denied they had questioned the integrity of officials or brought the game into disrepute.

But an independent commission found against them, adding that it noted “clear evidence of a lack of genuine remorse” from Forest.

Forest said they would appeal against the “extremely disappointing” decision and consider it to be “wholly disproportionate”.

The social media post was made around five minutes after full-time in last season’s match at Goodison Park.

“Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept,” the club wrote on X.

The Key Match Incident Panel – which is an independent panel that reviews match decisions after each round of Premier League fixtures – found Forest should have been awarded a penalty for Ashley Young’s challenge on Callum Hudson-Odoi in the 55th minute.

“We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game, but they didn’t change him,” Forest added on X after the match. “Our patience has been tested multiple times.”

The VAR for the game was Stuart Attwell, and the FA said Forest’s post was an “attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale”.

The governing body added that Attwell was the clear “victim” of Forest’s “ill-chosen and irresponsible” post.

Attwell submitted a statement to the panel, detailing the “stress, distress, fear and embarrassment” that had been caused to him by the post.

Forest were asked to delete the post by the FA but the club has not withdrawn it.

The FA had sought a fine in “excess of £1m” to “properly reflect the seriousness of the misconduct” but the commission settled on £750,000.

Forest’s lawyer asked the commission to consider if a proportion of the sanction could be suspended “in order to act as a deterrent to the club”.

In response, the commission said it saw “no reason for doing so in this case”.

Forest had claims for penalties after Young’s challenge on Gio Reyna, his handball and then the attempted tackle on Hudson-Odoi turned down by Anthony Taylor on the pitch, with video assistant referee Attwell not intervening.

The result lifted Everton five points clear of the drop zone and left Forest one point above relegation rivals Luton in 17th.