Premier League seasons
Nottingham Forest have been deducted four points for a profit and sustainability breach and a report from iNews has laid out the difference with Everton ended up with six removed for a “similar” breach.
The outlet point out on their website (18 March) that the Toffees punishment, which itself was reduced from 10 on appeal, was “always expected to act as a benchmark for Forest’s punishment”. But it also indicates that Everton had breached a higher threshold, “the standard £105million loss limit allowed by PSR [profit and sustainability rules]”, while Forest breached a “lower target of £61m” due to being in the Championship for three of the four “relevant” seasons. The City Ground club are expected to also appeal their punishment as the Toffees did previously. Perhaps there is some logic in Forest getting punished more lightly than Everton if they weren’t in the top flight for a large part of the relevant period. However, it is undoubtedly going to leap out as glaring to Toffees supporters when the club were originally penalized by more than double the four points, and the latest sanction could also end up being reduced anyway. If the spending limit at the City Ground was that much lower than the one at Goodison Park then surely a breach is still a breach, so there will be plenty of people wondering why one punishment appeared punitive and the other comparatively light.
Forest’s argument that they held onto Brennan Johnson for longer in order to bank more profit might be valid on some basis, but has apparently been ignored just as Everton’s argument that they sold Richarlison early when they could have got more otherwise also was.
And when it was seemingly held against the Toffees to have continued to sign any players, despite the relative austerity that the club have been operating under in the transfer market over the past few seasons, it seems strange that Forest have made a huge number of signings since returning to the top flight and have still got a lighter punishment.
So yes there is a difference in the parameters between Everton and Forest’s breaches, but this development seems to throw up more questions than answers when it comes to what the experience has been on Merseyside in recent months.