Nottingham Forest have been docked four points for breaching Premier League profit and sustainability rules.
An independent commission found Forest’s losses to 2022-23 breached the threshold of £61m by £34.5m.
The immediate loss of points means they drop below Luton Town into the Premier League’s relegation zone.
Forest said they are “extremely disappointed” with the decision, which they say “raises issues of concern for all aspirant clubs”.
A club statement read: “After months of engagement with the Premier League, and exceptional cooperation throughout, this was unexpected and has harmed the trust and confidence we had in the Premier League.”
Forest are the second top-flight team to be penalised for PSR breaches after Everton lost 10 points in November, which was reduced to six on appeal.
The City Ground club, who are likely to appeal against the ruling, had a hearing on 7-8 March.
Premier League clubs can lose £105m over three seasons – £35m per campaign – but Forest’s maximum loss was only permitted to be £61m because they spent two years of the assessment period in the Championship.
The Premier League initially suggested Forest should “before mitigation” be docked eight points, with a reduction to six, because of this breach being 77% larger than in Everton’s case.
Forest said this starting point was “utterly disproportionate when compared to the nine points that [the Premier League’s] own rules prescribe for insolvency”.
The commission found Forest demonstrated “exceptional cooperation” with the Premier League during the process.
However, Forest said that level of cooperation was “not reciprocated” by the Premier League.
The reasoning for the four-point deduction has been outlined in the commission’s written findings.
Forest were set to be hit with a six-point deduction – three points for the initial breach and a further three for the size of the breach – but their “early plea” and “cooperation” meant that was reduced to four points.
The league’s rules state any appeals process should “conclude no later than and if possible some time before 24 May” – five days after the season finishes.
Forest lost an average of £3m across 2020 and 2021 with a further £40m loss in 2022 and £52m in 2023, amounting to a total of £95m.
They were promoted in May 2022 and signed a British-record 22 new players that summer and made five loan signings. Their net transfer spend over the 2022-23 season was £142.8m.
In terms of outgoings, Forest sold two players for a fee, loaned out nine and released two.
Forest were charged in January and the Premier League said in a statement that both they and Everton “confirmed that they are in breach of the league’s profitability and sustainability rules”.
