Blackburn suffer a paperwork disaster leaving Lewis O’Brien without a game for six months after joining from Forest

BLACKBURN ROVERS are appealing the EFL’s decision to turn down two-deadline transfer requests that left Lewis O’Brien and Ethan Brierley in limbo.

The governing body ruled that the Championship Club had failed to submit the relevant paperwork to secure deals for the Nottingham Forest midfielder and the Rochdale ace ahead of last night’s 11pm cut-off.

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Rovers had an opportunity to present their case at a hearing earlier today and explained that they had submitted the documentation and information requested by the league in their bid to seal the deal.

However, the EFL have dismissed the Ewood Park outfit’s mitigating factors as to why it was submitted late.

Rovers thought they had pulled off a Deadline Day coup by capturing 24-year-old O’Brien.

The 24-year-old initially arrived on loan with the option of a permanent deal should he secure promotion.

Brierley, 19, was also wanted by a host of other Championship clubs after breaking into the Rochdale first-team, but Rovers appeared to have won the race for his signature.

However, both must anxiously await discovering their futures despite passing their respective medical checks after the moves failed to get the necessary approval from the EFL.

And O’Brien will be particularly concerned as he could now be left out of Forest’s 25-man Premier League squad for the second part of the season if he is forced to stay at the City Ground.

That would leave him with the prospect of no football for the remainder of the season.

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However, Rovers have confirmed they have appealed, with a statement: “One of the deals was a very ambitious one and it was only confirmed that it could come to us late Tuesday afternoon.

“Due to the complexity of the various agreements that need to be included in the overall registration, legal advisors have been brought in to assist part of the process.

“Despite the club’s best efforts to complete all required elements of this loan transfer, the filing deadline was delayed due to events which we believe are beyond our control and although the club have provided extenuating reasons for the late filing of our request was rejected by the EFL today.

“Our application for the second deal – for the permanent transfer of a promising young player – was also delayed due to unsigned paperwork and technical issues the club encountered at the time of submission.

“Once again, the EFL did not accept that these issues were an obstacle to the timely filing of the paperwork and also rejected this application.

“The club will now appeal the EFL’s decision to reject both applications and will submit documents before the Tuesday 7 February deadline.”