SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
English Championship football club Nottingham Forest have won the Sky Bet £250,000 transfer fund to spend in the upcoming January transfer window, despite being subject to a Football League transfer embargo. Forest earned the transfer money thanks to supporter Shaun Lander who won the Sky Bet competition.
Lander was announced as winner on Tuesday Lunchtime, just 24 hours after the Football League Association had placed Forest and Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United, under an embargo for breaching financial fair play rules.
Sky Bet ran the competition to celebrate its title sponsorship of the English Football League. The betting operator had drawn a shortlist of 10 Football League fans from its customer base. Lander was announced at Wembley Stadium, as the competition winner securing Forest the free transfer fund as well as £5,000 for himself.
The Football League’s Chief Executive Shaun Harvey has confirmed that Forest will allowed to receive the Sky Bet transfer money, however the football club can only spend the money on wages of players signing on a free-transfer or a loan.
The Football League announced that Nottingham Forest would receive a January transfer window embargo for incurring losses of more than the £8 million permitted during the 2013/2014 football season.
It is unknown whether Nottingham Forest’s management will challenge the Football Leagues transfer sanction.
