Nottingham Forest lost its appeal against a four-point deduction for breaching the Premier League's financial rules, a ruling that keeps the team in relegation danger with just two games remaining this season.
The league said Tuesday that an appeal board has upheld the decision taken by an independent commission in March, which dropped Forest into the relegation zone.
Forest has since climbed back out of the bottom three and is in 17th place in the 20-team league, three points above the relegation zone.
Forest was found to have breached the league's profitability and sustainability regulations covering the period from 2020-23. The club was only in the Premier League for one of those seasons — 2022-23 — and was permitted losses of up to 61 million pounds ($77 million) that year, its first back in the Premier League since 1999.
Forest went above the threshold by 34.5 million pounds ($44 million).
The club launched on appeal on two grounds — that the commission failed to regard the 47.5 million-pound ($60-million) sale of Brennan Johnson soon after the three-year assessment period ended as a mitigating factor and that some or all of the points deducted should have been suspended.
“Each of these grounds was rejected by the appeal board, which found the independent commission was entitled to immediately impose the sanction it did,” the Premier League said in a statement. “The four-point deduction will therefore remain in place.”
Forest still has to play Chelsea at home and next-to-last Burnley away, and would be guaranteed to stay up if it picks up at least four points from those matches.
Much of Forest’s mitigation effort centered around the club's attempts to sell Johnson, one of its top players, after last season finished. Forest realized it was going to be in breach of the rules and needed to sell him or another valuable player by a June 30 deadline for any transfers to be included in the figures for the three-year financial assessment period.
Forest rejected bids for Johnson from Atletico Madrid and Brentford on or before June 30 and wound up selling him to Tottenham on Sept. 1. By then, the club was in breach of the rules.
The three-person appeal board did not regard Forest holding out for a higher fee for Johnson as a mitigating factor, saying “it was a matter for the club how it managed its affairs in a compliant way.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Nottingham Forest's Ryan Yates, centre, celebrates after scoring his sides second goal of the game, during the English Premier League soccer match between Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, at Bramall Lane, in Sheffield, England, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)
Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo gestures, during the English Premier League soccer match between Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, at Bramall Lane, in Sheffield, England, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)
GENEVA (AP) — With an assist from Paul McCartney the Paralympic Games starts its 100-day race on Monday to the opening ceremony in Paris in August.
The former Beatle has let “We All Stand Together” — the signature tune from an award-winning animated film he wrote and produced 40 years ago — be used in a promotional film for the International Paralympic Committee.
“Sir Paul really understands what we stand for as a movement and he was so generous to us,” IPC president Andrew Parsons told The Associated Press. “He was not difficult to convince, it was something that came very naturally.”
In 100 days from Monday, the Summer Paralympics opening ceremony on Aug. 28 will play out along a section of the Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde. The 4,400 athletes taking part will compete over the following 11 days watched by up to 2.7 million spectators in venues including ones beneath the Eiffel Tower and at Versailles Palace.
“We have probably the most famous avenue in the world,” Parsons said in a recent interview. “That is really exciting. The city is really embracing Paralympic athletes, athletes with disabilities.”
“With our games we talk a lot about inclusion and it’s a good symbol of that. That very welcoming attitude is I think a very good start to our games.”
A turning point for the Paralympic movement came in London in 2012 when the host country rose to the occasion with huge ticket sales and a radically fresh approach to broadcasting it by Britain’s Channel 4.
“Still the benchmark games of our movement,” said Parsons, whose home nation Brazil hosted in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
To promote those Rio Paralympics, Channel 4 produced the “We’re the Superhumans” musical film that was a landmark of high-production values and inspirational images.
“Many broadcasters come to us in their preparations in different parts of the world and they normally ask, ‘What is Channel 4 doing?’” Parsons said. The IPC's trailer inspired by McCartney's “Rupert and the Frog Song” film is in that tradition.
The Paris Paralympics will have a record 164 broadcasters worldwide covering 549 events across 22 sports.
AP Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
FILE - The padded hands of Diane Roy of Canada are seen as she waits to compete in the women' 800-meter T54 heat at the 2012 Paralympics games, on Sept. 4, 2012, in London. With an assist from Paul McCartney, the Paralympic Games starts its 100-day race Monday to the opening ceremony in Paris in August. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
FILE - Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee of the Paris 2024 Games, speaks during a media conference in Paris, on Aug. 28, 2023. With an assist from Paul McCartney, the Paralympic Games starts its 100-day race Monday to the opening ceremony in Paris in August. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
Republican Guards ride up the Champs-Elysees avenue during ceremonies marking the 79th anniversary of Victory Day, Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool)
The Britain versus Netherlands sitting volleyball preliminary match at the 2012 Paralympics, on Sept. 1, 2012, in London. Netherlands won the match. With an assist from Paul McCartney, the Paralympic Games starts its 100-day race Monday to the opening ceremony in Paris in August(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
FILE - Paul McCartney performs at Glastonbury Festival in Worthy Farm, Somerset, England, on June 25, 2022. With an assist from Paul McCartney, the Paralympic Games starts its 100-day race Monday to the opening ceremony in Paris in August. (Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
