Forest fined 750,000 pounds for social media post criticising match officials

London, Oct 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) English club Nottingham Forest has been fined 750,000 pounds (Rs 8.24 crore approx) and warned for misconduct in relation to comments posted on social media after their Premier League game against Everton in April last year, the Football Association said on Friday.

Forest expressed frustration after being denied three penalty appeals during their 2-0 defeat. Shortly after the match, they released a statement on social media platform X, accusing VAR official Stuart Attwell of being a Luton Town supporter.

"Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept," the club wrote on X. "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."

At that time, Forest were in a relegation fight with Luton but ultimately secured 17th place, while Luton were relegated.

However, the club denied that the comments posted on social media "imply bias and/or question the integrity of the match officials and/or the video assistant referee and/or bring the game into disrepute".

"An independent Regulatory Commission found the charge to be proven following a hearing and imposed the club’s sanction," the FA said in a statement.

Forest said the fine is "wholly disproportionate" and they will challenge the decision.

"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," Forest said in a statement.

"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," it added.

Source: IANS