Forest delete Attwell post as £750k fine upheld

Nottingham Forest have been unsuccessful with their appeal against a £750,000 fine imposed for a social media post which criticised Premier League official Stuart Attwell.

Forest published the post last April after a defeat to Everton in the Premier League, a match where the east midlands club felt they were denied three clear penalties.

Forest's post said they had "warned" referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) that Attwell, who was the VAR for the match, was a fan of their relegation rivals Luton, but that "they did not change him", adding: "Our patience has been tested multiple times."

A regulatory commission issued a £750k (€893k) fine last October, with Forest immediately indicating their intention to appeal, arguing the punishment was "disproportionate".

The Football Association had been seeking a punishment of at least £1million for what it described as an "egregious, direct and public attack" on Attwell and an attack on referees in general "on an unparalleled scale".

The FA confirmed on Monday that an appeal board had upheld the original sanction and had ordered the post to be taken down. The link to the post on X was not working on Monday morning, though the club did not immediately confirm it had been taken down.

The appeal board said in its written reasons: "The (original) commission was entitled and right to give very considerable weight to the need for deterrence and the fact that NFFC had no mitigation. The lack of mitigation was particularly striking. The post has never been taken down.

"That puts into context NFFC’s reliance on the second and third posts on which it relies as somehow mitigating the damaging effect of the first post. The Commission was not impressed by this. Nor are we. The fact is that NFFC has never apologised for the tweet and has never accepted that it committed an offence."

Forest have been contacted for comment.

In later social media posts after the Everton game, Forest also called for PGMOL to take into account "contextual" rivalries when making referee and VAR appointments, but when the allegiances criteria were published at the start of this season this was not included.

Comments made by manager Nuno Espirito Santo and defender Neco Williams in relation to the officiating at the Everton game also resulted in sanctions, with Nuno given a suspended one-match touchline ban, a £40,000 fine and a warning as to his future conduct, and Williams warned and fined £24,000.

Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had to serve a five-match stadium ban earlier this season after he was found guilty spitting in the direction of officials following the club’s match against Fulham on 28 September.

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