Football: Nottingham Forest FC £750,000 fine upheld on appeal
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
On 10 March 2025, the English Football Association (FA) dismissed an appeal by Nottingham Forest Football Club against a fine of £750,000 for a social media post criticising video assistant referee Stuart Attwell.
The FA described the post as “an attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparallelled scale.”
In their post, the Club stated that they had warned the referee’s professional body (PGMOL) that Attwell was a fan of relegation rivals Luton Town FC, but that they did not change him, and added:
“Our patience has been tested multiple times.”
The Club argued that the fine imposed on them was disproportionate, but the FA Appeal Board dismissed the appeal stating that:
“In our view, a heavy penalty was entirely merited for this very serious offence.”
And added that:
“An aggravating feature of the offence was that the tweet was viewed by millions of people. In short, it went 'viral'. This was predictable and no doubt intended.
It was also predictable that it would cause great distress to the match officials and their families.”
It may be added that Luton were, in fact, relegated at the end of last season.
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
