Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo says point deduction uncertainty is harming squad
The uncertainty surrounding Nottingham Forest’s Premier League fate, according to head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, is negatively affecting his players.
Forest has filed an appeal after receiving a four-point punishment for breaking sustainability and profit guidelines.
April 24 is the date of the hearing.
Prior to Sunday’s trip to fellow struggling Everton, the team was one point above the Premier League relegation zone; however, should Luton defeat Brentford on Saturday, they would fall into the bottom three.
After Wednesday’s appeal, there won’t be a quick decision, so Forest will have to wait for a definitive one. Nuno claims this is having a negative impact on his team.
“Things become much harder when you are playing the season, and you get this issue because of the uncertainty, how it disturbs the whole harmony of the squad,” he stated.
“Since we still have an appeal pending, we are unsure of our current point total. Perhaps we regain the four points, and everything turns around.
“This becomes a problem, because you are working with something you can’t control.”
In March, Forest received a four-point deduction after an independent committee determined that their losses for the 2022–2023 season exceeded the PSR threshold of £61 million by £34.5 million.
Their “early plea” and “co-operation” resulted in the reduction of their six-point deduction, which was originally scheduled to be three points for the initial breach and three more for the severity of the breach.
“[It is being discussed at the training ground, of course]. It serves as a diversion. It never stops as something comes up every day; sometimes we regain the points, other times they take them away. The root of the issue is all of these things, Nuno continued.
Premier League teams are allowed to lose up to £105 million over the course of three seasons, or £35 million per campaign. However, because Forest played in the Championship for two of the evaluation periods, they were only allowed to lose up to £61 million.
An impartial commission will hear the appeal on Wednesday; the decision’s timeline is unknown.
Everton is one point ahead of Forest after being docked ten points initially, which was later reduced to six on appeal. They are also contesting a two-point punishment they received earlier this month for a second PSR infraction.
Nuno went on, “Our circumstances are comparable. Trying to control the noise and uncertainty around you is really difficult. Everton and I have been battling similar problems.”
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