Nottingham Forest has expressed strong disapproval of the Football Association's decision to fine them £750,000 for a controversial social media post regarding VAR official Stuart Attwell. The club has announced its intention to appeal the fine. Forest labeled the FA's initial proposal to impose a fine exceeding £1 million as 'wholly inappropriate' and criticized the penalty imposed by an independent commission.
On Friday, Nottingham Forest received the fine and a warning regarding their future conduct for insinuating bias and questioning the integrity of match officials. Despite denying the charge, the commission upheld the FA's findings. The club felt they should have been awarded three penalties during a match against Everton last season. Following the game on April 21, they posted on their X account: 'Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR [Attwell] 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.'
Forest requested to listen to the VAR audio from the game, a request that was granted by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). The club also urged PGMOL to consider 'contextual' rivalries when appointing referees and VAR officials. However, when the criteria for allegiances were published at the start of this season, this suggestion was not included.
In response to the fine, Nottingham Forest released a statement expressing their 'extreme disappointment with the decision.' They stated: '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.' The commission noted that Attwell had outlined in a statement 'the stress, distress, fear and embarrassment caused to him as a result' of Forest's post, emphasizing that the impact on him had 'plainly been very significant indeed.'
