Thank our lucky stars for KLD... Nottingham Forest the latest club in crosshairs over football short-termism Will Unwin Signing 31 players in the summer after promotion to the Premier League has left Forest facing the prospect of a points deduction When Nottingham Forest spent £150m in one transfer window in the summer of 2022, it was supposed to be a sign of ambition. It is not cheap being a Premier League club, and building a squad capable of staying up – never mind challenging for trophies – is an expensive business. But it also takes careful planning to assemble an elite team and when Forest ripped up that blueprint they accelerated the process that has led to a charge of breaching profit and sustainability rules. The Premier League charge, which could lead to a points deduction, relates to a three-year period that includes Forest signing 31 players in the season after promotion. Strange as it may seem now, everything had started calmly in June 2022 when the club broke their transfer record to buy Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin for about £17.5m. The striker was a marquee signing who went on to score the goals that, arguably, kept Forest up and, by Premier League standards, the cost was low for a capable No 9. Undoubtedly his price tag has risen since. It was part of a strategy to bring in players from leagues where value could be found, and improve them before selling on. It would, potentially, make Forest profitable and sustainable. The then chief executive, Dane Murphy, and head of recruitment, George Syrianos, put the plan in place, working alongside the head coach, Steve Cooper, but there was a desire from elsewhere in the club to make greater waves in the market. The heavy spending started later in that summer window when conflicting transfer strategies started coming into play and wages ballooned. The owner’s son, Miltiadis Marinakis, was prominent in recruitment, bringing in Jesse Lingard, Cheikhou Kouyaté, Emmanuel Dennis, Remo Freuler, Willy Boly and Serge Aurier. Their CVs were impressive, as were their salaries, but whether they were natural fits for Cooper’s style was up for debate as the transfer policy became increasingly scattergun. Even before promotion, the finances were striking at Forest. Wage expenditure in 2020-21 and 2021-22 was 202% and 197% of turnover respectively. Murphy and Syrianos implemented a data-driven approach in 2021 and looked to reduce the wage bill while creating a team capable of challenging for promotion. They did not want a repeat of Harry Arter, who joined from Bournemouth in September 2020 on a four-year deal currently worth about £40,000 a week. The former Republic of Ireland international is still at the club but his 14th and most recent appearance came in January 2021. Arter was one of three senior professionals, alongside Lyle Taylor and Cafu, left out of the 25-man squad registered for the Premier League last season as things became bloated at the City Ground. please log in to view this image Jonjo Shelvey had his contract terminated after eight months. Photograph: James Williamson/AMA/Getty Images Syrianos and Murphy did not last the season; their more controlled methods did not suit the ambitions of Evangelos Marinakis and the handbrake was removed. Filippo Giraldi was installed as sporting director in October 2022 but six months – and one mediocre transfer window – later he was shipped out once the incomings from the season reached 30. His signings of Jonjo Shelvey and Chris Wood were a folly of high wages and little output. The veteran centre-back Felipe arrived on hefty wages, estimated to be more than £90,000 a week, and helped the club stay up, but has been fit to start only once this season, bringing into question his suitability as a long-term signing. At least Felipe is still at the club; Shelvey had his contract terminated after eight months having fallen out with Cooper. Careful planning brought Forest up to the Premier League and the discarding of Syrianos and Murphy changed the direction of travel. The admission that this was a mistake can be seen in the former’s return to the club as a consultant in August, eight months after his departure, in an attempt to look for more uncut diamonds. Ross Wilson is the third person to oversee recruitment since promotion. His title is chief football officer and he is well thought of by those who have dealt with him inside and outside the club as he attempts to build a Premier League structure and bring stability. There is a reason why sporting directors are becoming increasingly pivotal: someone who can control a budget and put in place a long-term strategy can allow a club to flourish. Short-termism in football is rarely positive because constant change in concepts and ideas can lead to wasted time and money. In the latest summer window it was always a case of when, not if, Brennan Johnson would leave and how much Forest could get for him. His sale would be crucial to the club’s books regardless of when the transfer was concluded. An academy graduate of Premier League quality is a big asset in the world of profit and sustainability rules. The fact he was sold two months after the accounts cut-off, even though Forest achieved a fee of £47.5m, may not save them from a potential points deduction but does show business sense. Although conversations took place over potential moves for Paulo Dybala, Sergio Ramos and Alexis Sánchez, none were taken particularly far because their cost would have been a hindrance. Everton went through a period of a similar lack of focus in the transfer market, resulting in an overspend on players that brought little to the club except high salaries. Football is moving on and clubs need to think smarter in an age of rules to stop excessive spending, even if many may not agree with them. With so much finance available in football, it pays to think smarter and longer term. Doing otherwise could cost clubs more than money.
Surely this finally calms down the clowns who want it all yesterday within our ' supporters ' groups.
That would only be 2 clubs out of 20 punished and I’m sure they won’t be too fussed about losing 10 points if they stay up tbh. They’ll still be in a better position than if they went straight back down first season
Some will still say we should spend to achieve promotion. Ive even seen posters i respect say that and i really cant get my head around it We cant just spend to get promoted, i do not want to risk the future of our club for the chance of promotion. The only way we will spend big fees when in the championship is if we sell players for big money KLD is doing things right for sure, recruitment needs to be slightly better as last couple of windows haven't been great but that doesnt mean spending loads of money
Hopefully it reaches a lot of our fan base and then hopefully it sinks in and calms them down like a little tablet can do. They need to also get after the big boys as well I know Man City has a lot of charges against them but there’s very little movement on it then there’s Chelsea that’s a different story 8 year contracts or not
Meanwhile the brand clubs continue to bend the rules all over the place and just keep spending. Forest and Everton's problem wasn't that they spent too much, it's that they didn't spend enough. If you spend enough to improve the PL brand then it's amazing how quickly they look the other way....
Its the risk tho, if they went down they could have gone out of business. Now yes the owners can say well we stayed up so it worked but it doesnt always work for clubs Clubs like Portsmouth QPR, Derby and Reading all invested heavily in getting promoted to the PL either through wages or transfer fees n look how its worked out for them Forrest have spent so much money on utter gabbage that is going to restrict them for a while, i would hate us to go down that route
Its all to do with sponsorships with the big clubs, get these dodgy sponsorship deals in place so it boosts their income and avoid punishment - its a joke!! Im getting to the stage i want the 'big' clubs to F off to the super league
Oh definitely but look at Everton now they likely won’t go down this season and they have a fresh start pretty much whilst not dropping to the championship. It’s a piss take really. The amount of money in the game in general is just disgraceful to the point that most of the PL regulars are terrified of dropping to the championship for a year. With us I’m torn on it to be honest. As I mentioned previously I have no idea how much we spend so it’s guesswork based on what’s available online but I’d like to see us offering competitive wages to bring in some quality who can hit the ground running. Nobody wants to see us in the sh*t financially but I think we’re currently well short of being anywhere near that situation at the min.
To get promoted these days, have a chance of staying up, and not bust FFP, you need half a dozen lads already at the club ready to step up. I can understand why clubs adopt the yo yo model, it would never be accepted here though.
Yeah the money is ruining the game, Everton could be getting a further points reduction so they might still go down and if they do theyll be in serious trouble with the debts they have. Its a tough one, i dont think offering bigger wages to attract players is the right thing to do but i do think adding slightly higher bonuses to a contract would be better. We are at the start of our journey still with KLD as he had to build everything from scratch so hoping the spending will increase slightly in time but in a safe way
100% it wouldnt I think we are going the right route, it just needs adjusted slightly to sign more 'now' players. Those players that help us immediately, they can still be young but can come in and hit the ground running We all want the team to be in the PL as its the top league in England but def not at the risk of the clubs future.
The flaw with the concept of just spending £10 or £15 million on a couple of players to get us promoted is the likelihood that it won’t work. Double that, and it’s still no guarantee. Then where are we/they at in regard to financial stability?
Forest are an extreme example. I know great forest supporters who thought their spending after promotion was ludicrous, but remember they were promoted off the back of loans so had a massive rebuild anyway. I am not sure too many on here are seriously looking at forest as an exemplar, or a signpost to how to do it. One of the challenges in football though is the retrospective nature of the punishment. Owners like the forest one will have known and accepted what was coming. It means the reckless owners will do this, and the sensible ones wont. Somehow it leaves an even more imbalanced playing field in that you have the clubs with money, the clubs without it but who will spend anyway, and the clubs who follow the rules. Dont misunderstand me, I would sooner be owned by our owners and follow the rules, at least we will have a club in 5 years. But I do wonder, with the state of our governance model, how some teams will ever be able to compete again. Maybe if Forest are deducted 30 points, fined 1 season of premier league revenue and denied future parachute payments. It would take them back to where they were. It would hopefully be a deterrent. If it is a modest fine and points deduction then you start to see why some want the gamble to be made. How many clubs have been promoted and breached rules? More than a few. You are damned if you follow the rules, and you might win big if you dont. Major change is needed, but turkeys never vote for Christmas.
