On Monday afternoon, a Premier League statement confirmed that Everton and Nottingham Forest had both been charged with breaching profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
Since then, The Athletic have released a piece on Nottingham Forest’s sporadic spending, with a few paragraphs covering two deals involving Newcastle United that raised eyebrows around the City Ground.
This centres around Chris Wood and Jonjo Shelvey; two fringe men under Eddie Howe who were handed huge contracts at Forest. It’s believed the deals we secured ‘created something bordering on amazement’ at St James’ Park.
The Athletic reveal that Chris Wood was not only handed a deal worth £100,000 a week, but only needed to be named in their matchday squad three times to trigger a £15m permanent move.
As for Shelvey, he was handed a two-and-a-half-year contract on £75,000 a week. Considering he’s started just six Premier League games for the club since signing last January and is now on loan at Turkish side Rizespor, that looks to be an awful piece of business by the club.
Panic buys like this that have only the short-term in mind have clearly contributed to their FFP breach. Not only that, it’s believed Forest’s former sporting director Filippo Giraldi was sacked because he pushed to sign both former Mags.
So, while we are in dire need of new signings and must bring in a new midfielder is out for the season, it’s a relief – despite ongoing FFP frustrations – that we have owners who have their heads screwed on from a financial perspective.
