Following Nottingham Forest's 2-0 loss at Everton in April, the FA opted to discipline the team for a number of tweets they sent. In an unusual move, Forest's official club account took to Twitter to explicitly criticize the Premier League and PGMOL after claiming they were refused three obvious penalties at Goodison Park. Stuart Attwell, who was on VAR duty that day, was the target of one of the posts. Forest claimed to have told the Premier League that he was a supporter of Luton, their then-relegation rivals.
The FA declared they would look into the posts shortly after they were sent.
And now, some six months after the original posts, they have chosen a penalty. After determining that Forest had engaged in wrongdoing through their positions, the FA fined them £750,000. Forest has also been instructed to take down the problematic posts and provide a public apology to the FA and Attwell. Misconduct has resulted in a warning. Forest disputed that the remarks suggested bias or called into doubt the honesty of the match officials. A statement from the Football Association states: "Nottingham Forest have been fined £750,000 and warned for misconduct in relation to comments posted on social media after their Premier League game against Everton on Sunday 21 April."The club disagreed that the remarks made on social media suggest prejudice, cast doubt on the honesty of the assistant referee and/or match officials, or defame the sport.
After a hearing, an Independent Regulatory Commission declared the claim to be true and sanctioned the club. "I am 'extremely disappointed' with what I consider to be a 'wholly disproportionate' sanction," Forest responded, adding that they intend to appeal. The statement says: "The Regulatory Commission's decision to punish Nottingham Forest Football Club £750,000 for remarks made on social media during our Premier League match against Everton on Sunday, April 21, is deeply disappointing.
The FA's request for a sanction "in excess of £1,000,000" in its submissions worries us the most. The Club will be appealing the verdict because we feel that this request and the ensuing fine are completely out of context. Mark Clattenburg, who was the refereeing consultant for the Forest at the time, called the judgments "mind-boggling to watch" and a "hat-trick of howlers" after they were posted. Days later, he quit his position. Later, PGMOL chairman Howard Webb acknowledged that one of the rulings—that Ashley Young of Everton should not have been given a penalty for fouling Callum Hudson-Odoi—was wrong in retrospect. PGMOL expressed regret to Forest for the poor choice.
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