Nottingham Forest have had their appeal against a misconduct charge dismissed by an independent appeal board.
The Reds were charged after they had published an angry statement on X after last season’s controversial 2-0 defeat at Everton in April. Forest had been left furious at referee Anthony Taylor waving away three penalty appeals at Goodison Park, while there was no instruction from VAR Stuart Attwell for the official to go to his monitor.
A statement on the Football Association’s website reads: “An independent Appeal Board has dismissed an appeal by Nottingham Forest FC in relation to misconduct for comments posted on social media after the Premier League game involving Everton FC on Sunday 21 April 2024.
“The FA alleged that the comments posted on social media constituted improper conduct by implying bias and/or questioning the integrity of the match official(s) and/or the video assistant referee and/or bringing the game into disrepute. Nottingham Forest FC denied the charge, and an independent Regulatory Commission found it to be proven and imposed a £750,000 fine and warning on the club following a hearing.
"The Appeal Board dismissed a subsequent appeal by Nottingham Forest FC in relation to both liability and sanction, and it has also ordered the club to remove the social media post.”
After the game, Forest had published an angry statement at full-time and later called for the VAR audio of the incidents to be made public. The club accused Attwell of being a fan of relegation rivals Luton Town.
Their tweet said: “Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”
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