Nottingham Forest: “Extremely disappointed with the Commission’s decision – It struck our trust in the Premier League”

The issued an announcement against her about the punishment – removal of points – imposed on her. According to what is stated, Nottingham Forest expected a different decision from the Premier League Commission as they worked together for months with the league to violate the Profitability & Sustainability rules or PSR as briefly mentioned. Vangelis Marinakis’ announcement: “Nottingham Forest is extremely disappointed with the Commission’s decision to impose a four-point penalty on the club, to be implemented with immediate effect. Despite our disappointment, we thank the Commission for agreeing to deal with this issue on a rapid basis. The club considers it necessary for the integrity of the league to resolve differences in the season in which they arise. We were extremely disappointed with the tone and content of the Premier League submissions to the Commission. After months of discussions with the Premier League and an excellent collaboration throughout, this was unexpected and struck the confidence we had in the Premier League. That the Premier League sought an eight-point punishment as a starting point was completely disproportionate compared to the nine points laid down by its own rules on insolvency. We were also surprised that the Premier League took no account of the club’s unique circumstances and its mitigating effects. In cases where this approach is followed by future committees, it would make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the newly promoted clubs to compete without the Premier League’s extra payments, thereby undermining the integrity and competitiveness of the league. While the Premier League may have contested the club’s business plan, the club argues that it has levelled compliance with the PSR with a significant investment in the team to enable us to compete in the league for the first time in more than 20 years. Even after the club had lost the deadline for the PSR, it still took steps to ensure that Brennan Johnson would be sold before the end of the transcription period. This was a clear proof of our respect and support for the PSR. The Commission decision raises issues that concern all clubs. Players’ relocations are an extremely specialized trading environment that cannot be compared to the sale of normal products and services. There will be cases where a player transfer cannot be completed in the first half of a transfer period and can only be completed at the end of this window. That shouldn’t be a reason for condemning a club. Not being recognized by the Commission or by the Premier League should be a matter of extreme concern to all fans of our national game. Greater concern for all clubs is the worrying effect this decision will have on the operation of the player movement model. This is the only model with which clubs outside a small group of clubs on top of the Premier League can realistically proceed to the football pyramid. The Commission’s reasoning is that clubs should invest only after they have gained profit from the development of their players. This reasoning destroys mobility in the football pyramid and the result of the decision will be to drastically reduce the maneuver margins of all these clubs, leading to the stagnation of the national game. We believe that the high levels of cooperation shown by the club during this process, which are confirmed and recorded in the Commission decision, were not assessed by the Premier League.”