Gary Neville: Mark Clattenburg should step down after Nottingham Forest statement

21 April 2024, 18:26 | Updated: 22 April 2024, 15:35

Mark Clattenburg doubled down on calling VAR Stuart Attwell being a Luton Town fan, while Ashley Young took to social media to tease Nottingham Forest's refereeing complaints.

Forest accused Attwell, the VAR for their acrimonious 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park, of being a Luton fan after a series of appeals for penalties by the away side were turned down.

Forest were waved away on three separate occasions by match referee Anthony Taylor with the on-field decisions endorsed by Attwell in the VAR hub.

After the game, Forest posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.

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"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."

Former Premier League referee Clattenburg works as a consultant for Forest and was at Goodison Park for the match.

On Sunday evening, The Daily Mail published a column by Clattenburg in which he referenced the statement but pointedly stopped short of condemning it.

Instead, Clattenburg labelled the penalty decisions "a joke", criticised the PGMOL for appointing Attwell as VAR, and repeated Forest's assertion that "a Luton fan such as Attwell" should not have been involved in the game.

"One of these errors would have been bad enough," he wrote. "Three was a joke, and that is why Nottingham Forest were left feeling victimised after another defeat in which zero big decisions went their way.

"It was a hat-trick of howlers from the refereeing team and, unfortunately for Forest, a continuation of an unjust trend that has hampered their survival fight.

"You will have seen the statement released by the club - how the PGMOL were contacted to warn that it was not appropriate for a Luton fan such as Attwell to play such a pivotal role in a massive match that would impact the relegation race.

"Certainly, I would not have risked this situation if I were the head of the referees and all of this could have been avoided had the PGMOL simply made smarter appointments. Referees do not make mistakes deliberately but this was mind-boggling to watch. Why Attwell did not send Taylor to his screen, only he will know."

Young teases Forest on social media

Everton right-back Young was at the centre of all three refereeing decisions amid the fallout from Sunday's game, and took to social media to aim what appeared to be a playful dig at Forest.

The former England international posted a picture on X, formerly known as Twitter, of a Spotify screenshot which showed him listening to 'Cry Me A River' by Justin Timberlake, accompanied by two winking emojis.

Neville: Clattenburg should quit Forest

Speaking prior to the publication of Clattenburg's article, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville had urged the former referee to distance himself from Forest's stance by resigning.

"Mark Clattenberg must resign tonight," said Neville. "If he saw those 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 statement is like a petulant child. It's embarrassing. But they're grabbing defeat from victory. They could say, 'why should we sit here and be badly done to and not say anything'. You can potentially come out at the end of the game - and the manager is a great spokesman at the end of the game, so is your captain - and say that we're not accepting the quality of decisions that are going against us, and that would have a real impact.

"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. I think managers can say, 'that's a shocker today, a disgraceful decision'. You'd get a bit of a fine and the club might cover it for you because you do a deal with the chairman to defend yourselves and put a marker down. All of those things have happened in the past.

"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.

"And when they say 'explore all options', I had a problem with Liverpool saying that after the offside at Tottenham - what do you mean by that?

"It's become a theme moving forward that clubs now think they can 'explore options'. What are they going to do, sue? Replay the game? Ask for points back? That's never going to happen.

"Unless you can prove somehow there's been absolute wrongdoing, which there won't be in that sense, it's just a nonsense.

"I'm disappointed for Nottingham Forest's players and fans, but I'm also disappointed in Nottingham Forest for the way in which they've acted. It's a horrendous tweet they've put out there and they'll regret that as a football club.

"Someone is driving this cultural behaviour in the way in which they're handling these poor decisions and it's not the right way to do it."

Carra: FA need to come down hard on Forest

Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher:

"The FA need to come down hard on Forest and stamp this out. There's been stuff with Liverpool at Tottenham and Arsenal at Newcastle. It feels like it's building with Clattenburg at Forest. It's like a tactic to put pressure on officials in some way. We saw Clattenburg in the stands.

"This shouldn't get away from Anthony Taylor and Stuart Attwell having a bad day but this behaviour needs stamping out, like asking for an apology, exploring all options. There are no options. There needs to be a really big sanction on Forest."