Nottingham Forest fined £750,000 for controversial social media post – as FA pushed for £1m

Nottingham Forest have been hit with one of the biggest fines in Premier League history after being instructed to pay £750,000 for their controversial post-match tweet at Everton last season.

Forest, who said they were ‘extremely disappointed’ and vowed to appeal the verdict, have also been warned over misconduct by the Football Association. It follows a lengthy investigation into the comments made on social media minutes after the final whistle of the 2-0 defeat in April. It has also emerged the FA wanted a punishment in excess of £1million.

With Forest in relegation trouble at the time, the club were furious after “three extremely poor decisions” went against them at Goodison Park. They also suggested that the VAR Stuart Attwell was a fan of Luton Town, who were also fighting to avoid relegation to the Championship.

Forest denied that the comments posted on X constituted improper conduct by implying bias and/or questioning the integrity of the match officials and/or the video assistant referee and/or bringing the game into disrepute.

In the club’s defence, they claimed the post was “not prepared with sufficient care” and did not introduce context. In a statement released on Friday, they said the fine was disproportionate.

They said in a statement: “Nottingham Forest Football Club is extremely disappointed with the decision of the Regulatory Commission to impose a £750,000 fine in relation to comments posted on social media following our Premier League fixture against Everton on Sunday 21 April.
 
“We are particularly concerned that The FA, in its submissions, sought a sanction “in excess of £1,000,000”. We believe that this request, along with the subsequent fine, is wholly disproportionate and the Club will be appealing the decision.”

An independent commission found the charge to be proven and said “the remarks were “borne out of irresponsibility and a lack of accountability.”

Forest’s post has been viewed 46 million times

Forest’s fine is arguably unprecedented for this type of disciplinary investigation and is only marginally lower than the £875,000 fine QPR received over the Alejandro Faurlin transfer in 2011.

The written reasons also claim that the game was brought into disrepute by the post, which has been viewed 46 million times.

The commission regarded a subsequent apology from Forest as a “damage-limitation exercise undertaken by NFFC, in our judgment, in the forlorn hope of avoiding subsequent proceedings.”

In the fall-out from the match, Forest’s head coach Nuno Espirito Santo and defender Neco Williams were both fined for comments made to the media in post-match interviews.

Meanwhile, Forest are preparing for a hearing next week over the dismissals of Nuno and Morgan Gibbs-White in the 2-2 draw with Brighton last month.

Nuno was sent off by referee Robert Jones for alleged comments made after Gibbs-White received a second yellow card for a foul.