Everton: Furious Nottingham Forest to follow Liverpool route with formal PGMOL demand
Nottingham Forest are to make a “formal request” to the PGMOL for the VAR audio from their defeat to Everton, according to John Percy.
The Telegraph journalist reported via Twitter on 22 April that the “furious” club are set to follow the lead of Liverpool who took the same course of action in October over their defeat to Tottenham.
It follows controversy at Goodison Park a day earlier when Forest were denied three penalty appeals involving Ashley Young in a 2-0 defeat to Sean Dyche’s men.
A post from their official Twitter account after the game suggesting VAR Stuart Attwell’s alleged support of Luton Town was behind the decisions was subsequently reiterated in the Daily Mail by their own refereeing consultant Mark Clattenberg, despite Gary Neville insisting the former official needed to resign immediately in order to distance himself from the claims.
Percy wrote: “NEW: NFFC to make formal request to PGMOL for Var audio from Everton game. Forest still furious over the 3 penalty decisions and lack of Var intervention. Follows a similar move by Liverpool in October.”
Everton record vital three points amid explosion of controversy
Liverpool’s fury after the VAR confusion which wrongly disallowed a Luis Diaz goal [Sky Sports, 4 October] was controversial in itself but appears to have set a precedent which Forest wish to follow.
The three penalty shouts were strong enough that most clubs would hope to get at least one, so it has to be said that Everton were fortunate on this occasion.
But Toffees supporters might justifiably feel they have had their fair share of rough decisions throughout struggles in the past few seasons.
The dispute between the PGMOL and Forest over what Clattenberg requested of Howard Webb before the game and when [Ben Jacobs, 22 April] suggests this was brewing ahead of time, so the three controversial calls by Anthony Taylor not sparking reviews was almost guaranteed to lead to a reaction.
Attwell has been heavily criticised in the past for simply not being good enough, although it is admittedly easy to chalk everything up to mistakes and incompetency and just let it continue unchanged.
But at the very least it would be incredibly difficult to prove that he was biased against Forest because of an allegiance to Luton, and it is a high-stakes play by the club which likely opens a can of worms where bias can be alleged at every turn.
From an Everton point of view, for once Dyche can move on and concentrate on the Merseyside derby on Wednesday (24 April) with three points safely in the bag, for now at least, in a season already characterised by points in the bag being anything but safe at Goodison Park.
In other Everton news, 777 Partners claim to be much closer to completing their takeover after the Premier League relented on their conditions.
For more Everton news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.