Chris Sutton slams Mark Clattenburg and Nottingham Forest after 'nonsense' controversy v Everton
Chris Sutton has slammed Mark Clattenburg and Nottingham Forest for their "nonsense" claims following their defeat to Everton at Goodison Park.
Sean Dyche's side picked up a vital three points against Forest on Sunday (22 April) courtesy of goals from Idrissa Gueye and Dwight McNeil as well as several controversial refereeing decisions that went their way.
Forest were quick to slam the officiating, claiming in an X post that VAR Stuart Atwell was a Luton Town fan and Clattenburg was quick to criticise the official's decision-making in a newspaper column [Daily Mail, 21 April].
While Sutton admitted he could understand the away side's frustration, he was quick to lay blame at both Clattenburg and Forest's door, suggesting their actions had harmed their frustrations.
Speaking on It's All Kicking Off! (22 April, 28:50) he said: "We know where the tweet comes from. With the greatest respect, it wouldn't be some spotty 19-year-old who just off the cuff as a Nottingham Forest fan would have tweeted that out.
"If you were an avid Luton fan the best result would be a draw wouldn't it? That whole thing was nonsense, I think it's actually damaging to Nottingham Forest a great football club but you've got to question the way it's being run from top to bottom.
"I think in regards to Mark Clattenberg, he's done his reputation some harm, I really do. Some of the stuff which he said yesterday... that is loaded. He needs to come out and address that, I feel for Stuart Atwell in this situation.
"How would Mark Clattenberg as an official feel if somebody questioned his professional integrity?"
Will Nottingham Forest be punished for controversy after Everton showdown?
Even the most biased of Everton supporters will have admitted that they were incredibly lucky to get away with all three potential penalty incidents at Goodison Park on Sunday, but there was little to suggest any sort of bias from officials.
While Toffees fans would have been just as irritated had the same calls gone against them at Goodison, it feels unlikely that they would have led such a targeted attack towards the officials in the manner that Forest did.
Hopefully, the Premier League will take some form of action against Nuno Espirito Santo's side as it is completely unreasonable to call into question an official's integrity just because a couple of controversial calls didn't go Forest's way.
This story isn't going anywhere anytime soon and it will be interesting to see how both the FA and Forest handle this in the coming weeks. The best thing for Everton is the fact that they've managed to claim a crucial three points.
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