Nottingham Forest, their dislike of the Premier League and a lingering sense of injustice

They wonder whether Mull of Kintyre’s traditional performance might not, for once, be the loudest moment before kick-off at the City Ground this evening.

When the Premier League anthem is played before the pre-match handshake between the two teams, it has been regularly greeted with boos and jeers from Nottingham Forest fans.

This time you sense that the volume might increase again.

When Forest face Crystal Palace, they will do so without their owner Evangelos Marinakis in the stadium, without their head coach Nuno Espirito Santo in the dugout and without their most influential player Morgan Gibbs-White on the pitch.

All three are subject to sanctions from the Football Association (FA). In the space of about a week, Forest were suspended for nine games and fined over 825,000 pounds ($1.1 million).

Marinakis is suspended for five games, Nuno is suspended for three and Gibbs-White is suspended for one game, adding to the one-game ban he already served following his red card at Brighton & Hove Albion.

This came after the club was fined £750,000 for being denied three penalty claims following the controversial game against Everton last season and for releasing a statement on social media.

And the absence of all three people will bring with it a sense of injustice.

That doesn’t mean anyone should have escaped punishment. Any verbal abuse of a match official should never be overlooked or tolerated.

However, there is a broader context to consider; There are reasons why Forest were entitled to feel disappointed, angry and frustrated at every opportunity. In each case that resulted in a penalty for Forest, they can point to either a referee error or inconsistencies in the application of the law.

Forest needs to assess where he can improve his own behavior, regardless of how much he feels he has been wronged. But while they have to look in the mirror, a line or two from Nuno in his pre-match press conference also seems increasingly relevant.

“I hope it’s not like that, I hope we’re not a target. I want to think and believe that everything is normal; that the judgment is the same for every team,” he said when asked whether the club felt like it was being excluded. “We want to believe that everything is the same for everyone – the right attitude is to accept the sanction and move forward with the expectation that things will improve and that the sentence will be the same for everyone.”

Forest’s contribution has now been seen by more than 48 million people following the 2-0 defeat at Goodison, which came after referees failed to award any of Forest’s three penalty claims in the game.

Three extremely bad decisions – three missed penalties – that we simply cannot accept.

We warned the PGMOL before the game that the VAR was a Luton fan but they didn’t change it. Our patience was tested several times.

NFFC will now consider its options.

– Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024

What the FA took issue with was the suggestion that Stuart Attwell, the VAR official in question, might be biased because he is a historic fan of Forest’s then relegation rivals Luton Town. The FA considered this so serious that they pushed for a £1 million fine. It is a number that sends a clear message. It’s a message that has been reinforced by everything that has happened since.

Forest questioned authorities and they responded harshly.

The social media post after the Everton game sums up Forest’s behavior. It was completely over the top and poorly thought out, but also born out of legitimate frustration. The Major Match Incidents Panel – made up of three former players or coaches, a Premier League representative and a member of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, the body of referees – voted unanimously that one of the three offenses should have been awarded: as Ashley Young beat Callum Hudson-Odoi in the 55th minute.

And the same goes for the other two incidents that have since landed the club owner, manager and star player in trouble.

Gibbs-White will serve a two-game ban for reacting angrily to a decision the panel again found wrong after he received a second yellow card for a foul in a 2-2 draw on September 22 Brighton’s Joao Pedro was shown. Referee Rob Jones initially suggested that Gibbs-White had won the ball, but changed his mind after speaking to fourth official Anthony Taylor.

Gibbs-White received an automatic game for the red card and another was added by the FA for his reaction to the decision. Isn’t it possible to argue that the first of these bans was inappropriate as he should not have been sent off? Does a further suspension of punishment add unnecessary salt to the wound?

Gibbs-White started the season in good form and received his first England cap (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

It wasn’t hard to see that Nuno’s message – albeit forceful and seemingly swearing – to referee Jones was that this was the second time he had given Forest a wrong decision.

The red card shown to Willy Boly in Nuno’s first game as manager in December last year – again for a second yellow card – remains one of the worst decisions I have seen in almost two decades of covering Forest. It was comically bad. But it was Forest who paid the price for their mistake as they finished the game with ten players and then had Boly suspended for the next game as clubs are not allowed to appeal red cards resulting from two yellow cards .

Nuno’s anger that something similar had to happen again in Brighton at the hands of the same match official was understandable.

Forest is rightly being punished for their offensive reactions. When the FA publish the written reasons for their punishments it may not make for pleasant reading, but a three-match ban seems excessive in the circumstances.

Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler, who entered the pitch after the Gibbs-White duel to insult fourth official Taylor, has been fined £8,000. Along with his three-match ban, Nuno was fined £55,000.

Marinakis was charged with misconduct following Nottingham Forest’s Premier League game against Fulham on September 28.

The FA statement said: “It was alleged that his behavior in the tunnel area after the final whistle was inappropriate. He denied this allegation, but the Independent Regulatory Commission found it to be proven and a five-match stadium/ground ban was imposed.”

Forest intend to appeal the ban but Marinakis will not take part in tonight’s game while that process is underway. Nuno was allowed to remain in the dugout during the hearing as his presence could have influenced the outcome of the game.

It is highly unusual for a football club owner to be accused of inappropriate behavior. Only time will tell how the written reasons for his punishment will affect him. Whatever is revealed, a certain level of decency should be expected from a man in his position.

Marinakis’ ban is the longest ban of an owner in English football since Leyton Orient president Francesco Becchetti was banned for six games for violent behavior in January 2016 for apparently kicking his own assistant coach, Andy Hessenthaler team.

But again, Marinakis’ action came after a game in which Fulham secured a 1-0 win thanks to a soft penalty against Murillo, while a similar incident at the other end of the pitch when Anthony Elanga was brought down did not given.

These are all emotional reactions to perceived injustices. Now Forest is determined to keep their noses clean; no reason to give any further sanctions. You must work to protect the club’s reputation and repair any damage that has already occurred.

Nuno’s message in his press conference on Friday was clear: the only thing that matters in the short term is finding a way to ensure that his absence on the sidelines does not have an impact on the team. He will communicate with the bench from the stands this evening and also when Forest face Leicester City and West Ham United.

It’s always noisy at the City Ground, but with the Sky TV cameras on display for the first time since apologizing to Forest “for any offense” caused by Gary Neville’s comments about the club, it’s getting quite loud Safety raise his voice again.

Neville, 49, had accused Forest of behaving like a “mafia gang” after the club released a statement following the defeat to Everton in April, prompting Forest to send Sky a legal letter. Neville will not be in attendance at the City Ground tonight – which is not unusual as he does not attend many Monday night games – but he is expected to be part of the Sky team when Forest visit Leicester on Friday.

Tonight Forest must try to use any remaining sense of injustice as motivation; to use it positively. And you can expect the fans in the stands to have a message of their own to deliver.

(Top photo: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)