Matt Turner said he is glad the uncertainty over the Premier League’s investigation into Nottingham Forest is over after the club was docked four points for breaching spending rules.
The punishment, handed down this week, sees Nuno Espirito Santo’s team drop below Luton Town into the relegation zone.
The club said it is ‘extremely disappointed’ with the decision.
But Turner revealed that the possible punishment was being discussed in the locker room, insisting ‘it’s difficult when something’s looming.’
Speaking to Tim Howard for Mail Sport, Turner said: ‘It’s better now that you know your fate is now in your own hands.
USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner said he is glad the uncertainty over the Premier League’s investigation into Nottingham Forest’s breach of spending rules is over
The punishment sees Nuno Espirito Santo’s team drop below Luton Town into relegation zone
Turner revealed that the looming punishment had been discussed within the locker room
‘Now you know exactly where you stand, and I think all players in general do better when their roles are clearly defined. So now we know how many points we’ve got off, we can approach it…it’s easier when everything’s in in your own control.’
Everton, Howard’s former club, has also been punished over profit and sustainability rules this season. The Merseyside club lost 10 points in November, which was reduced to six on appeal.
‘It definitely gets spoken about (among the players),’ Turner added. ‘It’s challenging because it’s the great unknown, right?
‘It’s unprecedented times I feel like in the Premier League, in some facets. Is it just: if you break the rules you get one certain amount of points deducted? Or is it depending on how bad the breach is? And what’s the threshold? We don’t know, so the players are waiting to see.’
Forest were docked by an independent commission who found they had overspent the permitted limits by £34.5million ($43.8m) during the 2020-2023 accounting period.
The original punishment of six points proposed by the commission was reduced by two in recognition of Forest’s early guilty plea and co-operation with the Premier League leaving them with a lesser sanction than Everton despite admitting a significantly larger breach.
Forest, owned by Evangelos Marinakis, were found to have overspent the permitted limits by £34.5million ($43.8m) during the 2020-2023 accounting period
Everton’s 10-point deduction was reduced to six at an appeal hearing last month after a second commission concluded there were legal errors in the initial trial, but the club did not receive the two-point discount given to Forest as they did not plead guilty and were found to have submitted inaccurate information to the Premier League.
Despite Turner’s insistence that knowledge of the punishment offers the locker room some relief, Forest had lashed out at the punishment and the Premier League’s approach at the hearing.
‘The high levels of cooperation the Club has shown during this process, and which are confirmed and recorded in the Commission’s decision, were not reciprocated by the Premier League,’ a club statement read.
‘After months of engagement with the Premier League, and exceptional cooperation throughout, this was unexpected and has harmed the trust and confidence we had in the Premier League. We were extremely dismayed by the tone and content of the Premier League’s submissions before the Commission.’
