Nuno Espirito Santo discusses the penalty imposed for breaking Profitability and Sustainability guidelines in the most recent Nottingham Forest news.
Nuno Espirito Santo, the head coach of Nottingham Forest, has called the scenario surrounding the Reds’ and Everton’s point deductions as “a mess”.
Both teams have been sanctioned for violating the Profitability and Sustainability Rules, also known as Financial Fair Play, although their final fines remain unclear. Given the appeals procedure for both, the saga could go past the end of the season.
Forest has filed an appeal against the four points docked to them, and they anticipate to hear the verdict later this month. After receiving a 10-point deduction earlier in the season, which was reduced to six on appeal, the Toffees were penalized another two points this week for a second PSR violation and have indicated that they will dispute that sanction as well.
The Premier League has set a backup date of May 24 for deciding both disputes, five days after the final round of fixtures. With both teams fighting for safety, the relegation scenario could remain unclear after the final games.
“That’s a lot of uncertainty, there’s an appeal going on, and we’re still waiting,” Nuno stated ahead of Saturday’s game against Wolverhampton. “There’s not much to say about that; let’s concentrate on what we need to focus on and wait.”
“I’ve never been in this scenario before, and neither have any of us. It’s a mess.
“There is so much going on that we don’t know what will happen. Let us wait. I and the other players are just concerned with our work at hand.
“We’ve been playing since the issue arose. It is always there. We strive to shift our attention away from it and onto things over which we have control. But it’s there.
“We’re talking about this. We read. The players know. The supporters are aware. We anticipate that the final decision will be made sooner rather than later so that we can finish the season and see what happens.
Forest quickly recovered the four points they had been deducted by drawing with Crystal Palace and defeating Fulham. However, as they enter their last six games, they are only a goal difference away from relegation.
With so much at stake, Nuno wants the appeal process to be completed quickly. He went on to say, “It is critical that we reach a decision as soon as possible. It’s better for us and the competitors so it doesn’t create clutter, confusion, and uncertaint now – so much going on, so much talking, appeal after appeal. We don’t know.y, which is what we’re experiencing.
“We wait and see what’s happening. For us, it is vital we focus on our tasks, and the players’ task is to play, to be focused on the game and try to ignore everything else.”
