Awoniyi, Aina’s Forest Face Possible Point Deduction

Taiwo Awoniyi and Ola Aina’s club, Nottingham Forest, are in danger of a possible point deduction in the English Premier League if they’re found guilty of breaching the financial fair play rules, Soccernet.ng reports.

The Reds are currently 15th in the league standings after winning tough games against Newcastle and Manchester United, seizing six points altogether.

In a publication released by The Athletic, all Premier League clubs will learn later this month whether they are in breach of the league’s profitability and sustainability regulations (PSRs).

According to the new introduction made by the league’s governing body, the clubs in the league were requested to submit their financial accounts for the 2022/2023 Premier League season on December 31st, 2023, rather than the usual time frame, which was supposed to be in March, 2024.

As a result of the change, any club found guilty of financial breach will incur immediate punishments such as fines, and in some cases, point deductions.

Since Steve Cooper led the Reds to the English top-flight, they have bought a total 42 players, and have been in dire need of sales to balance the books. Forest sold Brennan Johnson to Ange Postecoglu’s Tottenham Hotspur on the deadline of the summer transfer window for a fee of £47.5million.

The profitability and sustainability regulations allows for a maximum loss of £105m over a three-year period, but in Forest’s latest submission, the club reported an annual loss of £45.6m, amounting to £136.8m over a three-year period.

Considering a three-year period, it gets worse for Nuno’s side, as they’ve only spent two years in the top-flight, meaning their permissible losses would be even smaller.

Forest’s losses would be capped at £61m, which breaks down as £13m for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons when they were in Championship, plus £35m for last season, their first back in the top-flight.

In due time, it’ll be revealed if the governing body of the English Premier League will allow Nottingham to appeal the situation, or if they’ll be given a fine.

Sean Dyche’s Everton have also been penalised from a breach of FFP rules this season, as they faced a 10 point deduction earlier this season.