Nottingham Forest's appeal against the £750,000 fine for their social media criticism of video assistant referee (VAR) Stuart Attwell has been rejected by the Football Association.
The Premier League club was initially fined in October for what the FA described as an "attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale" following their 2-0 defeat at Everton on April 21, 2024.
Following that match, Forest published a post on X (formerly Twitter) claiming they had "warned" the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) that Attwell, who was acting as VAR for the fixture, was a fan of their relegation rivals Luton Town. The club stated in their post that despite this warning, the PGMOL "did not change him," adding that "our patience has been tested multiple times."
The controversial post came after three penalty decisions went against Nottingham Forest during the crucial match against Everton, which left them just one point ahead of Luton in the relegation battle at that time.
In its written reasons for upholding the substantial fine, the FA appeal board emphasized the serious nature of the offense, stating: "In our view, a heavy penalty was entirely merited for this very serious offence."
The appeal board particularly noted the widespread impact of Forest's social media post: "An aggravating feature of the offence was that the tweet was viewed by millions of people. In short, it went 'viral'. This was predictable and no doubt intended."
They further explained that "It was also predictable that it would cause great distress to the match officials and their families."
Despite the controversy and their concerns at the time, Nottingham Forest ultimately secured Premier League survival, finishing the 2023-24 season in 17th place, six points clear of the relegation zone. Luton Town, the club mentioned in Forest's controversial post, were relegated.
The club's fortunes have dramatically improved in the current campaign, with Forest now sitting third in the Premier League table with just 10 matches remaining in the season.
