Kieran Maguire: Tottenham star can help Nottingham Forest avoid points deduction
Nottingham Forest will use the £48million sale of Brennan Johnson to try and avoid a points deduction this season.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Magure, who exclusively told Football Insider that Forest are arguing that Johnson’s sale to Spurs should be backdated to fit within the 2022-23 season.
Forest and Everton were both charged with breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules on Monday (15 January), leaving both clubs at risk of a points deduction if found guilty.
Everton had 10 points deducted in November after being found guilty of breaching financial rules.
Forest have allegedly committed the same offence and exceeded the allowable losses allowed over a three-year rolling period, with much of their losses attributed to heavy spending in the transfer window.
However, Forest have also offloaded several players in recent windows to boost their cash flow, including the £48million sale of Johnson to Spurs this summer.
The deal was completed on September 1 – meaning it falls outside of the cut-off date for Forests’s 2022-23 accounts.
Maguire revealed that Forest want Johnson’s sale to be backdated to June so that they can include it in their accounts and avoid a points deduction.
“Anybody who looked at Nottingham Forest’s accounts while the club was in the Championship will have noted that it was sailing fairly close to the PSR limit,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“A lot has been made of the number of players signed by Forest following their promotion.
“Less is said about the fact that the club was promoted with multiple players who were out of contract at the end of 2022 and also some loan players.
“Therefore, there were an awful lot of places to fill.
“Having said that, the recruitment strategy can be politely described as haphazard and unstructured.
“When you take that approach in business, there’s a danger that money will not be well spent and this appears to be the case with Forest.
“They will plead that the Brennan Johnson sale can be backdated two months to the 30th of June but that would be a landmark ruling when the commission reaches its conclusions.“
In other news, Major update on ‘significant sales’ at Nottingham Forest after FFP bombshell
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