Nottingham Forest are appealing the Premier League’s decision to reject their application to reinstate Steve Cook into their 25-man squad.
The defender missed the cut when the Reds submitted their list after the January window closed. But the club want him back in as they cope with an injury crisis at the back.
A request was submitted to the governing body for him to replace Willy Boly, who is facing at least three months on the sidelines with the hamstring problem he sustained in last weekend’s defeat to Fulham. And although that has been turned down, Forest insist the rules permit such a change.
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“We applied and it got rejected, so now we’ve appealed,” head coach Steve Cooper said after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City. “We can’t understand why it’s been rejected, looking at the rules and some things which have gone on in previous years. We’re hopeful the appeal is successful.
“Fingers crossed there will be news this week. Or hopefully, they stick to the rules and we’ll be okay.”
Scott McKenna also suffered a hamstring injury at the exact same time as Boly in the game at Craven Cottage and will be absent for about six weeks, while Moussa Niakhate is not yet available as he continues his recovery from his own hamstring problem which has kept him out since August. It leaves Joe Worrall and Felipe as the only fit centre-backs currently available to Cooper.
The Welshman had been confident of being granted approval over Cook, when speaking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday. At the time, he said he “expected” to get the green light.
“When you read the rules and you look at it, then yes, we were surprised (at the decision). Maybe I shouldn’t have sounded as confident as I did, but it’s happened before on many occasions,” Cooper said.
“There’s a lot of things I could say, but I’m not going to. Hopefully we will get the written reasons from the Premier League. We’ll remind them of the rules they wrote, and hopefully we’ll be okay with it.”
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