Ex-FA official: Nottingham Forest may face stadium ban after confirmed news
Nottingham Forest could be forced to play behind closed doors after an FA statement, according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-FA and Premier League referee admitted he would prefer a suspended sentence.
The FA confirmed in a statement last week (5 August) that they had charged Nottingham Forest with failing to control their fans following the penalty shootout win over Sheffield United in the Championship play-off semi-final.
Forest progressed to the play-off final after the game finished 3-3 over two legs prompting wild scenes at the City Ground.
Most notably, season ticket holder Robert Biggs was jailed for six months for headbutting Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp on the pitch after the game.
“The outcome of this should be a suspended ground closure, I think that would be the right thing,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“That says ‘If this happens again, a game will take place behind closed doors’. If this was in Europe, their next game would be behind closed doors but they don’t tend to do that here.
“The worst case scenario is that the FA closes the stadium for a game. The second scenario, which I favour, is a suspended ground closure so a potential ground closure if it happens again.”
Nottingham Forest’s opening home game of the season is on Sunday (14 August) when West Ham visit the City Ground.
Steve Cooper’s side lost their opening Premier League game 2-0 away to Newcastle United on Saturday (6 August).
In other news, a finance guru has revealed the “sun is shining” on Nottingham Forest as a £2million “gamble” may lead to a £600million payoff.