Everton and Nottingham Forest ‘miss their window’ to take legal action against Premier League
Everton and Nottingham Forest have “missed their window” to take legal action against the Premier League over Chelsea’s sanction.
That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider there doesn’t appear to be any realistic route to challenge the ruling.
Chelsea received a £10million fine and a suspended transfer ban after admitting to making £47m worth of secret payments to agents and third-parties linked to deals between 2011 and 2018 when Roman Abramovich was in charge.
However, the London giants avoided a sporting sanction despite suggestions a points deduction was a realistic possibility.
Everton were previously deducted eight points for two separate profit and sustainability (PSR) breaches, while Forest were handed a four-point penalty after failing to comply with the spending rules.
Why Everton and Nottingham Forest 'don't have a case' against Premier League
The Guardian reported on 25 March Forest officials have held talks with Everton about joining forces to challenge the Premier League over its handling of the Chelsea situation.
It is understood the two clubs will initially write to the Premier League requesting a formal explanation for the Blues’ sanction and the process behind it.
| Club | Sanction |
| Everton | -6 points |
| Everton | -2 points |
| Nottingham Forest | -4 points |
| Leicester City | -6 points |
| Chelsea | £10m fine |
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson discussed whether Everton and Forest could take action against the Premier League.
“I don’t think they have a case,” said Borson.
“There was a time to preemptively write to the league, putting down your concerns about sanction agreements, about fairness, about leniency, about consistency. There's been times over the last two years to do that. As we understand it, nobody did.
“It's not been a secret that the Premier League and Chelsea were looking to enter into a sanction agreement or settlement of some sort. It was reported by Martyn Ziegler in The Times in January of 2025.
“The only surprise is that it hasn't been done so far, so nobody can argue. They've sat in let's say 10 Premier League meetings since Martyn Ziegler published that article.
“Nobody can tell me that there's never been a discussion about how it would be wrong for Chelsea to enter into a sanction agreement, to avoid the charges, and to avoid full scrutiny of that historic behaviour.”
Why Everton and Nottingham Forest have left complaint too late
Borson revealed there aren’t any routes to challenge the Chelsea decision within the Premier League rules.
“It is just not the right time now for Everton and Nottingham Forest to be complaining,” said Borson.
“They've missed their window. They can send whatever they like, but they’re describing it as a formal complaint. Well, first of all, a formal complaint doesn't mean anything in this context.
“There's been a process. It's been ratified by an independent disciplinary committee panel. If you read the Premier League rules, as far as I can tell, there are no routes to challenge that sanction agreement aside from maybe sort of some constructed argument around some form of judicial review or quasi-judicial review.
“It doesn't seem to me that there's any route, and it certainly doesn't seem to me that there's any realistic route.”