Gary Neville has expressed some sympathy with Nottingham Forest as they face charges after breaching financial regulations.
The Sky Sports pundit has been speaking on the Stick to Football podcast.
So, what has Neville said about Forest – and what rules does he think need changing? Let’s take a closer look…
What Gary Neville has said about Nottingham Forest
Well, it appears as though the man who served Manchester United with distinction has some reservations about everything.
The financial landscape in the Premier League appears clear as mud, with Forest now facing a points deduction.
Nick De Marco has been hired as a top football lawyer to fight the corner of Forest and hopefully, the punishment won’t be catastrophic.
Neville believes that there should be a rule change on the horizon – and has also taken a pop at the Manchester City situation.
He told the Stick to Football podcast: ” I would like to see an amendment to FFP. It was brought in by the elite clubs to protect the elite clubs and I don’t like it in its essence. I think there needs to be a change.
“One of the diversion tactics, you could call it a diversion tactic, is that they say they are only picking on the smaller clubs and what about Man City? That’s the big elephant in the room really in the sense that City’s charges haven’t been brought forward, accepting it’s a lot more complex.
“I was uncomfortable that Richard Masters said there had been a date set, but he couldn’t explain when the date was. That told me – and maybe I’m wrong here – that maybe we are not going to like the date, that it is going to be in June, July or next summer, beyond this season.
“I think it’s in the interests of City and everybody to bring that case forward. It can’t go on, because it is damaging to the Premier League and the game generally.
Neville hits the nail on the head
It’s fair to say that plenty of Forest fans will stand with Neville here.
Although the Reds deserve punishment if they’ve broken the rules, it does feel a little unbalanced among the clubs right now.
City have had their charges hanging over their head for some time. However, the Premier League seem very quick to announce charges to Forest and Everton.
Neville is a master of his trade as a pundit. He’s also not afraid to say what he thinks and it’s intriguing he’d like to see a rule change.
The Premier League does seem hell-bent on making an example of some teams but not others.
Also, the three-year period in which Forest have been punished saw them in the Premier League for jus tone.
Hopefully, the rules can be changed and in the meantime, Forest will hope the punishment for their breaches isn’t detrimental to their Premier League status.
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