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An independent Appeal Board has partially upheld an appeal by Nottingham Forest FC regarding a breach of FA Rule E20.1, reducing the club’s fine from £125,000 to £112,000.
The charge stemmed from a mass confrontation between Nottingham Forest and Chelsea during their Premier League fixture on Sunday, 6 October 2024. Both clubs were charged by The Football Association (FA) with failing to ensure their players did not behave “in an improper and/or provocative way” around the 88th minute of the match.
Following a hearing before an independent Regulatory Commission, Nottingham Forest were fined £125,000 and Chelsea £40,000. Forest appealed the decision, leading to a partial reduction in their penalty after the Appeal Board reviewed the case.
According to the FA, “The Appeal Board conducted a paper hearing on Friday 10 October 2025 to determine an appeal by Nottingham Forest F.C. (‘NFFC’) against the decision of a Regulatory Commission (‘the Commission’) dated 17 October 2024 which imposed a fine of £125,000 on NFFC.”
The FA’s original charge against Nottingham Forest was issued on 7 October 2024. It alleged:
“It is alleged that in or around the 88th minute of the fixture [namely Chelsea FC v NFFC on 6 October 2024], Nottingham Forest FC failed to ensure that its players did not behave in a way which is improper and/or provocative.
Please note that The Football Association has designated this as a Non-Standard Case due to the involvement of technical area occupants and a previous proven breach of FA Rule E20 arising from the fixture against Liverpool FC on 2 March 2024.”
FA Rule E20.1 states:
“E20: Each Affiliated Association, Competition and Club shall be responsible for ensuring that its Directors, players, officials, employees, servants and representatives, attending any Match do not:
E20.1. behave in a way which is improper, offensive, violent, threatening, abusive, indecent, insulting or provocative.”
The referee’s match report, submitted by Mr C. Kavanagh, described the incident as follows:
“In the 89th minute there was a trip by Nottingham Forest player Neco Williams on a Chelsea player. The momentum of the Chelsea player takes him into his manager and both end up on the ground. Following this there were large numbers of players, subs and technical area staff involved in a mass confrontation. After we calmed down the situation, we cautioned Neco Williams for the trip, Marc Cucurella for dissent towards the 4th official and Levi Colwill for Adopting Aggressive attitude. The rest of the incident was confirmed as check and cleared by the VAR."
The Appeal Board concluded that while the club’s breach of FA Rule E20.1 was correctly identified, the circumstances warranted a modest reduction in sanction, bringing the fine to £112,000.
Featured Image Credit: Instagram / @officialnffc
