Skip to content
Nottingham Forest fined following City Ground pitch invasion after Sheffield United play-offs clash
Nottingham Forest have been fined for the pitch invasion which took place after last season’s play-off semi-final second leg against Sheffield United at the City Ground.
The Reds have been fined £50,000 for breaching FA rule E20, which involved “failing to ensure that its spectators – and all persons purporting to be its supporters or followers – conducted themselves in an orderly fashion”. An independent regulatory commission imposed the fine following a hearing, with £25,000 suspended until the end of next season, provided there are no further breaches of the rule.
A statement from the Football Association said: “An independent Regulatory Commission has fined Nottingham Forest FC £50,000 for breaching FA Rule E20 at its game against Sheffield United FC on Tuesday 17 May 2022 in the EFL Championship.
READ MORE: Decision made over former Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi
READ MORE: Arsenal given injury boost ahead of Nottingham Forest clash
“The FA charged Nottingham Forest FC with failing to ensure that its spectators – and all persons purporting to be its supporters or followers – conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and refrained from using threatening and/or violent behaviour whilst encroaching onto the pitch following the final whistle.
“Nottingham Forest FC partially admitted the charge and the independent Regulatory Commission imposed the club’s fine following a hearing. £25,000 of this fine has been suspended until the conclusion of the 2023/24 season provided Nottingham Forest FC has no further breach of FA Rule E20.”
The pitch invasion occurred after the Reds had beaten the Blades on penalties and secured their place in the play-offs final at Wembley. A Forest fan was jailed for headbutting United striker Billy Sharp during the incident.
The FA summarised its case into four separate, but related, issues. They were: 1) Insufficient number of stewards; 2) Inappropriate deployment of stewards to prevent the mass pitch invasion; 3) Failure to protect tunnel and technical areas and 4) failure to screen for pyrotechnics. In paragraph 9 of its submissions dated 13 January 2023, Forest made clear they accepted the charge related to issue No.3 only. The other issues were not accepted.
Nottingham Forest and the Brian Clough years – get your 48-page special edition of the Nottingham Post
Brian Clough is a true Nottingham Forest legend. Two European Cups, a league title, two European Super Cups, four League Cups and close to two decades of cherished memories – Cloughie really was unique.
To mark 30 years since he left the City Ground, the Nottingham Post have produced a special edition celebrating his trophy-laden time with Forest.
It includes interviews with former Reds players, stunning images from our picture archives, columnists, and plenty more.
You really don’t want to miss it!
The souvenir edition will hit the shops on April 19th, but you can PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY NOW!
If you don’t live in the area, don’t worry – we have you covered. We will post UK and worldwide.
All the info you need is HERE.
In the independent regulatory commission’s written reasons for the fine, they said: “Were it not for the assault on Mr Sharp we would impose a lesser penalty. But the fact of that assault requires a penalty that marks the seriousness of what took place.”
What do you make of Forest’s fine? Have your say in the comments below
READ NEXT
