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Many within football regarded the punishment as being lenient, with the west London club avoiding any sporting sanction.
Forest, meanwhile, were given a four-point penalty they received for breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in March 2024, at a time when they were fighting relegation from the Premier League.
But the hierarchy at the City Ground are still mulling over what their next steps will be.
Forest’s PSR sanctions surrounded the sale of Brennan Johnson, which saw him move to Tottenham Hotspur on deadline day in 2023, two months after the June 30 cut-off point for PSR assessment.
Forest were allowed permissible losses of £61million as a promoted club in 2022-23, but were found to have exceeded that threshold for a three-year period by the sum of £34.5m. Had Forest sold Johnson before June 30, it might have kept them on the right side of those permissible losses — but they would also likely have had to sell him for less money.
At the time, Forest felt this situation should have been regarded as a ‘near miss’, during a campaign that saw them spend £142.8m on 19 new signings following promotion from the Championship.
Chelsea’s current ownership — Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly — reported the situation to the Premier League (as well as the FA and UEFA) themselves. Chelsea made 36 undisclosed payments between 2011 and 2018, which assisted them in signing players such as David Luiz, Willian and Eden Hazard.
The situation was unearthed during negotiations over the sale of the club with previous owner Roman Abramovich. Chelsea won two Premier League titles and six further trophies during the time frame in which those payments were made.
Everton were also docked eight points for two separate breaches of PSR rules during the 2023-24 campaign.
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