Johnny Phillips: Manchester City remain the big blue elephant in the PSR room
The mess created by the punishments for breach of the Premier League’s Profit & Sustainability Regulations could take some clearing up.
Earlier this week Nottingham Forest notified their intention to appeal the four points penalty they have received for breaching the rules.
The East Midlands club overspent by £34.5million over a three-year period, and would have incurred a penalty of six points had they not co-operated fully with the investigation into their financial circumstances.
Forest signed more than 40 players after winning promotion during the 2021/22 season. Over £250million has been spent in total, with a mixed set of results to show for it.
Forest are convinced their numbers fall within the allowable losses due to the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham Hotspur, even though that occurred outside the accounting period.
Forest believe that they would have been within the Premier League’s sustainability rules had they sold Johnson in June last year when they received an initial offer for him, but selling the Welsh forward in September was still in the spirit of those sustainability rules because deferring his sale ultimately generated more money.
Brentford offered £35m for Johnson in June whereas Tottenham eventually paid a club-record £47.5m on deadline day. Forest’s argument is that by holding out for their asking price they were respecting the spirit of the league’s substantially rules, and clearly their lawyers believe there is a strong case.
The four-point sanction has left the City Ground club in real trouble, as they have now slipped into the relegation places below Luton Town.
