Gary Neville tells Mark Clattenburg he ‘MUST RESIGN’ from his role at Nottingham Forest after club’s incendiary tweet accusing VAR of being a Luton fan and moaning at ‘three extremely poor decisions’
Gary Neville insists Mark Clattenburg ‘must resign’ from his role at Nottingham Forest, after the club released a statement accusing VAR Stuart Attwell of showing favouritism towards Luton in the relegation battle.
Forest, who were beaten 2-0 by fellow survival hopefuls Everton on Sunday, slammed ‘three extremely poor decisions’ in a furious statement after the match, claiming Attwell was a ‘Luton fan’ and that PGMOL were warned of this prior to the clash at Goodison Park.
The club were denied three separate penalty claims by match referee Anthony Taylor, with Everton defender Ashley Young the accused culprit for every one. He escaped without conceding a spot-kick for challenges on Giovanni Reyna and Callum Hudson-Odoi, as well as a potential handball.
Shortly after the match, Forest said: ‘Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.’
Clattenburg doubled down on the club’s sentiments in his exclusive column for Mail Sport on Sunday, criticising the team of officials for their ‘hat-trick of howlers’.
Gary Neville (above) insists Mark Clattenburg ‘must resign’ from his role at Nottingham Forest
Forest were furious with three refereeing decisions during their 2-0 defeat by Everton on Sunday and alleged that VAR Stuart Attwell was showing bias towards relegation rivals Luton
Clattenburg doubled down on the club’s criticism in his column for Mail Sport on Sunday
Speaking prior to Sunday’s column, Neville urged that the former Premier League referee must resign from his role as a consultant to Nottingham Forest.
words go out in which question the integrity of a referee and claims someone is a cheat for supporting another club, then he’s supporting what is being said.
‘He would lose all credibility with referees in the game. He should stand down tonight and distance himself from that statement.’
The Manchester United legend went on to criticise the ’embarrassing’ nature of the statement, blasting Forest for showing a ‘lack of class’.
‘The statement is like a petulant child. It’s embarrassing. But they’re grabbing defeat from victory,’ he continued. ‘You could if you wanted, and I’m not a fan, but written statements from the club when it comes to talking about referees, I don’t believe that’s a line you should cross.
‘Today and over the last few weeks, the way Nottingham Forest are behaving lacks class and that’s a class club. When I was growing up, they acted in a way where you felt like values and principles were really at the forefront of everything they did through the manager they had at the time.
‘Today has been a horrendous day for Nottingham Forest. Possibly horrendous because of the decisions that they’ve had, but horrendous for how they’ve reacted to the situation. To mention the VAR official as being a Luton fan and inferring in some way that’s had an impact on the decision-making process and suggesting to me as a fan, thinking “has he cheated us”, you’re into really dangerous territory.’
The club released this incendiary statement after the controversial defeat at Goodison Park
Attwell, left, was on VAR duty on Sunday while Anthony Taylor, right, was the on-field referee
Nottingham Forest now sit just one point ahead of Luton in the relegation battle, floating precariously above the drop zone in 17th, with Manchester City, Sheffield United, Chelsea and Burnley still to play.
Meanwhile, the Clarets picked up a crucial 4-1 away win against Sheffield United at the weekend to move three points adrift from safety.
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