Nottingham Forest have been fined £750,000 by the Football Association (FA) for April’s social media post that questioned the integrity of official Stuart Attwell after their defeat to Everton.
The “ill-chosen and irresponsible” post was deemed to constitute improper conduct by an independent regulatory commission as it implied actual bias against video assistant referee (VAR) Attwell. Forest have appealed the fine.
The commission also noted Forest’s lack of “genuine apology” and “genuine remorse” for the post, which has not been taken down by the club.
The FA had sought a fine in excess of £1million to “reflect the seriousness of the misconduct and the culpability” of Forest.
Forest denied the charge at the time and argued the post had “no intention to imply bias”. They stated it had instead intended to “start a debate about the potential difficulty” of Attwell, who they alleged supported the club’s relegation rival Luton Town, being appointed as a VAR for their fixture as they believed “potential for unconscious or perceived/apparent bias was an issue that needed to be addressed in the wider interests of the game”.
The commission deemed the social media post to be an “exceptionally poorly judged” method of raising these concerns.
Forest had been left aggrieved after referee Anthony Taylor failed to award three penalties during their 2-0 loss to Everton, and VAR Attwell opted not to overrule the decisions.
Forest were later told by an independent panel that they should have been awarded one penalty from their three unsuccessful appeals at Goodison Park.
A statement posted on Forest’s official X account minutes after full time read: “Three extremely poor decisions — three penalties not given — which we simply cannot accept.
“We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.
“NFFC will now consider its options.”
The commission’s written reasons read: “The fact that no such apology has been made, as well as the fact that the post has not been withdrawn by NFFC despite a specific invitation by The FA to do so, are, as this judgment has already made clear, evidence of a lack of genuine remorse on the part of NFFC. This is relevant to the level of the financial penalty which we assess is necessary and proportionate in this case.”
Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept.
We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.
NFFC will now consider its options.
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024
The post has been viewed 46.2million times and the commission stated as it had gone “viral” and generated such publicity this was deemed to have brought the game into disrepute.
Attwell was deemed to be the “principal victim” of the post, and he provided a statement to the commission which “sets out the stress, distress, fear and embarrassment caused to him”.
“The impact upon Mr. Attwell has plainly been very significant indeed,” the commission stated.
The £750,000 fine is a considerable amount for a club to be handed by the FA for a misconduct charge. Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was himself fined £40,000 in August for his post-match comments about the officiating decisions during the Everton match.
Officials must declare the team they support and are then not appointed to matches involving them or their rivals.
The policy that helps inform which match officials are chosen to appoint games in the Premier League, English Football League and Women’s Super League is being published by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) this season in a bid to improve transparency.
A Forest statement read: “Nottingham Forest Football Club is extremely disappointed with the decision of the Regulatory Commission to impose a £750,000 fine in relation to comments posted on social media following our Premier League fixture against Everton on Sunday 21 April.
“We are particularly concerned that The FA, in its submissions, sought a sanction “in excess of £1,000,000”. We believe that this request, along with the subsequent fine, is wholly disproportionate and the club will be appealing the decision.”
(Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
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