(Reuters) – Nottingham Forest have been fined 750,000 pounds ($979,500) and warned for misconduct in relation to a social media post criticising the referee after their Premier League defeat by Everton last season, the Football Association said on Friday.
Forest were angered at being denied three penalty claims in the 2-0 loss and minutes after the game they issued a statement on social media platform X accusing Video Assistant Referee (VAR) Stuart Attwell of being a Luton Town fan.
At the time, Forest were involved in a relegation battle with Luton but they eventually finished 17th while Luton went down.
“The club denied that the comments posted on social media imply bias and/or question the integrity of the match officials and/or the video assistant referee and/or bring the game into disrepute,” the FA said in a statement.
“An independent Regulatory Commission found the charge to be proven following a hearing and imposed the club’s sanctions.”
The FA added that Forest may appeal the decision.
At the time, Forest said on X: “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.”
($1 = 0.7657 pounds)
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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