May 5th 2024.
Sky Sports recently received a legal notice from Premier League club Nottingham Forest, who are taking action against the network following negative coverage from former Manchester United and England player, Gary Neville. The club was highly displeased with Neville's scathing remarks about their performance and their former refereeing analyst, Mark Clattenburg. This all stemmed from a statement released by the club questioning a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) official after their 2-0 loss to Everton last month.
Nottingham Forest, who are struggling to avoid relegation in the Premier League, stated that they were "considering their options" after facing what they called "extremely poor" decisions during their match at Goodison Park. The club also revealed that they had warned the Professional Game Match Officials Board about the VAR official, Stuart Attwell, being a fan of Luton. The statement was posted on social media just five minutes after the game ended and expressed the club's frustration with the multiple questionable decisions made during the match.
Sky Sports covered Forest's statement during their coverage of Liverpool's win over Fulham at Craven Cottage, with Neville calling for Clattenburg to resign from his position. The club also took to social media to criticize the officials, with Neville stating that Clattenburg must resign immediately. He believed that by allowing the statement to be made, Clattenburg was supporting the accusation of bias towards the referee and was therefore losing credibility within the game.
Neville, a former player himself, compared the statement to a "mafia-gang" and called it embarrassing. He also expressed his shock at the suggestion of cheating due to the VAR official being a fan of Luton. He strongly believed that Nottingham Forest would face consequences for their accusations. More recent news has surfaced, with Kai Havertz claiming to have never seen a player like his Arsenal teammate, Graeme Souness slamming Arsenal and accusing them of cheating, and Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, identifying a major advantage that Arsenal still have in the Premier League title race.
The coverage of the social media post by Sky Sports was said to have enraged Nottingham Forest, leading the club to send a legal letter to the network, according to the Daily Mail. Clattenburg had taken on a consultancy role at the club in February to assist players and staff in understanding VAR and the decision-making process. However, he resigned from the position last week, stating that it had become more of a hindrance than a help to the club. He also mentioned that he has been unfairly targeted by some individuals and pundits.
The controversial match against Everton saw Forest lose due to three penalty decisions, with Attwell choosing not to review any of the incidents using the pitchside monitor. Howard Webb, the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) boss and former referee, recently admitted that one of the three decisions should have resulted in a penalty. Despite this admission, Forest, manager Nuno Espirito Santo, and defender Neco Williams were all charged by the Football Association with misconduct after the match.
Shortly after Forest's tweet was posted, both Nuno and Williams openly criticized the officiating during their post-match media duties. The FA released a statement, saying that all three parties have been charged with misconduct for their comments after the game. They believe that the comments made imply bias, question the integrity of the match officials, and bring the game into disrepute. Nottingham Forest, who are fighting for survival in the Premier League, have until May 9 to respond to the charges. In the meantime, they have boosted their hopes of staying in the league with a crucial 3-1 win against Sheffield United.
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