The Football Association pursued a fine exceeding £1 million for Nottingham Forest due to the club’s “egregious, direct and public attack” on VAR official Stuart Attwell in a social media post.

It was confirmed on Friday that Forest had been fined £750,000 for the post, which was published in April following a match against Everton. The Midlands club believed they had been unfairly denied three penalties during the game.

The FA argued that the fine should surpass or at least match £1 million, contending that the post undermined the integrity of an official and damaged the reputation of football as a whole “on an unprecedented scale”.

However, Forest released a statement describing the fine imposed by the panel as “disproportionate” and announced their intention to appeal.

The club was also issued a formal warning by the panel regarding their future conduct.

Forest's post on their X account, dated 21 April, stated: “Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not awarded – which we simply cannot accept.

“We informed PGMOL that the VAR (Attwell) is a Luton fan before the match, yet they didn’t replace him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”

The written reasons from the hearing confirmed that Howard Webb, Chief Refereeing Officer of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), and Mark Clattenburg, a referee analyst employed by Forest, discussed Attwell’s allegiance to Luton during a call on 19 April, two days before the match against Everton.

However, the commission noted that no formal requests were made to replace Attwell.

The panel took into account the personal impact the post had on Attwell.

“The Commission is of the opinion that the primary (but not the sole) victim of this ill-considered and irresponsible post was Stuart Attwell, and we have considered the contents of his statement, which detailed the significant stress, distress, fear, and embarrassment he suffered as a result,” the panel stated.

“The impact on Mr Attwell has clearly been profound and has lasted well beyond the brief period argued by NFFC.”

Webb, in his statement to the panel, said that Forest’s post had “the potential to encourage those who wish to abuse officials and to normalise questioning the integrity of all referees.”

The panel concluded that a reasonable observer would interpret Forest’s post as linking the rejected penalty appeals to Attwell’s club allegiances, thereby confirming the FA’s charge.

The panel added that it was “an extremely ill-considered accusation”, particularly given that Everton were also one of Luton’s relegation rivals.

“There were other ways for NFFC to express their concerns about VAR and their grievances, yet they chose to voice them in a manner that they knew would attract widespread publicity, even if they later regretted their choice of words and the reception it received,” the panel said.

The FA also expressed concern that Forest had not outlined specific steps to prevent a recurrence of such an incident.

Although Forest’s lawyer mentioned that the club’s director of communications now approves all social media posts, the panel noted that the communications director had not been involved in deciding whether to remove the post or issue an apology to Attwell.

The panel considered this “clear evidence” of an ongoing issue and ruled that it should be treated as such.

After the initial post regarding Attwell, Forest also requested to review the VAR audio from the match, a request which PGMOL granted.

The club further urged PGMOL to consider “contextual” rivalries when assigning referees and VAR officials, but when the criteria regarding allegiances were published at the beginning of the season, this suggestion was not included.

Clattenburg left his role at Forest on the day the club was charged by the FA, having received a formal warning himself.

Comments made by manager Nuno Espirito Santo and defender Neco Williams regarding the officiating during the Everton match also resulted in sanctions. Nuno received a suspended one-match touchline ban, a £40,000 fine, and a warning regarding his future conduct, while Williams was fined £24,000 and issued a warning.

Nuno has since been charged with misconduct by the FA again in September, after being sent off during a match against Brighton.

Earlier this month, Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was also charged by the FA over allegations that he behaved improperly near the tunnel at the City Ground following his team’s defeat to Fulham.