Nottingham Forest confident over points deduction appeal after Everton development
Nottingham Forest will be confident of successfully appealing their points deduction.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, transfer correspondent Pete O’Rourke claimed that the Reds would not have filed an appeal for their four-point deduction if they didn’t have a “chance of success”.
Forest were hit with the sanction last month after an independent commission found their three-year losses to the 2022-23 season breached the allowed threshold of £61million by £34.5million.
They subsequently launched an appeal in the hopes that they could reduce or remove the sanction.
Nottingham Forest feel they have “chance” of appeal success
While no official verdict date has been set, it will come no later than 24 May – five days after the end of the Premier League season.
That means Forest, who sit three points below the drop zone in 17th, could have to wait until the conclusion of the season to learn whether or not they are relegated back to the Championship.
O’Rourke was adamant that such a scenario would be a “joke”, but also claimed that Forest’s appeal is “risky” considering they could be hit with another deduction for a frivolous appeal.
“I think we’ll want the appeal to be decided pretty soon,” he told the Inside Track podcast.
“We don’t want it to be feasible that we won’t know who’s relegated once the season is finished.
“That would be a joke for the Premier League.
“Forest must feel that they have a decent chance of success, otherwise they wouldn’t have.
“I just think it’s risky from them considering in their initial verdict, the Premier League commission gave them two points off for cooperating with the investigation.
“There was a warning that if there was any frivolous appeal, there could be a further points deduction.
“It’s risky from Forest.
“If I was in charge of Forest and seeing where we were in the table, even with the four-point deduction, I still would be confident that they’d stay up.
“They’ve probably seen that Everton have been successful with their appeal for their first charge.
“The pressure is now turned back on the Premier League.”
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