Clarity now in fight to stay in top flight

AFTER more than two months of uncertainty, Nottingham Forest finally have some clarity.

The Reds have had the threat of a points deduction hanging over them since the middle of January, when they were charged with breaching Profitability and Sustainability Rules.

It has been the gloomy cloud trailing alongside a largely poor run of results since the turn of the year.

Now Forest know what they have to deal with. Now they know what they need to do as they gear up for a nine-game sprint to the finish in the relegation fight.

An asterisk will appear next to the Reds’ name in the Premier League standings after official confirmation of their punishment has been announced, joining Everton as part of that particular gang.

Now the priority must be to ensure the club are still in that particular table next season.

The battle facing Nuno Espirito Santo and his players has been made more challenging with the fourpoint deduction they have been hit with. But it is still do-able. They still have it within them to scrap their way to survival.

“Points deduction, it’s coming for you,” Luton Town fans chanted as Forest trudged off the pitch after Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road.

It has but there is still all to play for in the battle at the bottom end of the table; a lot of points to be won. Nuno’s men may have dropped to 18th in the table with their deduction applied but they are only one point below the Hatters.

Nuno has always insisted his focus and that of his players has been on matters on the pitch. However, the Portuguese must use the club’s punishment to galvanise his squad.

They cannot allow dropping into the relegation zone to have a detrimental psychological effect.

It is possible to feel sympathy with Forest’s frustration over being charged and punished for breaching the financial rules. They will not be the only club to question the fairness of the regulations.

In Evangelos Marinakis, they have an incredibly ambitious owner.

The Greek has spoken about how he wants to re-establish the Reds as a “dominant force in English football”.

The club may yet appeal against their punishment. If so, the Premier League have put a backstop date of May 24 in place for the situation to be sorted – five days after the final round of fixtures.

There is, therefore, the possibility that the whole saga may still be up in the air once the whistle has blown on the last day of the campaign. That would be a ridiculous state of affairs.

There is no question the Reds had to spend money once they had been promoted, both to stay in the top flight and then to try to kick on. Not all of it, though, was spent wisely.

Lessons must be heeded in that sense, particularly as another important transfer window approaches.

What happens going forward is for another day, though, for now all that matters is Forest ensure they are still a Premier League club by the time the summer comes around.