Everton v Nottingham Forest: Stuart Broad rejects ‘poor’ Stuart Attwell allegations amid controversy
Stuart Broad has rejected the suggestions of bias to the officiating after Nottingham Forest were beaten 2-0 at Everton and criticised the club’s statement afterwards.
The former England bowler and high-profile Forest supporter reacted via Twitter on 21 April after three penalty appeals were turned down by Anthony Taylor and VAR Stuart Attwell, leading to an explosion of recriminations over the latter’s supposed support for Luton Town.
Broad was equally outraged by the lack of penalty-award for Ashley Young’s tackle on Callum Hudson-Odoi, in a continuation of what he calls “weird” decisions against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, and while he felt the club’s controversial statement was “poor” he understood it given the lack of alternative options.
He wrote: “Just rewatched the Everton Vs Forest highlights. 3rd pen shout, ref clearly says Young ‘got the ball.’ When it’s so clear on video he hasn’t, how is VAR not overturning that? The reason it’s NOT given as a pen is the ref wrongly thought Young got the ball, so surely that’s a clear and obvious error to overturn?
“I don’t buy into the VAR being a Luton Fan influencing decisions. Not having that at all. It’s just incompetence. Why do very few ex players go into match officiating? The yearly salary? Pay the match officials more to attract the best people maybe? It can’t carry on like this.
“I think this statement is poor but I also get it. It’s past frustration now. So much at stake. Virtually every game we’ve had weird decisions that even neutral fans can’t understand. We sort of have to accept it, can’t see anything we can do?”
Officials at Everton inadequate but not biased?
The PGMOL clearly has a big problem on its hands in the Premier League, because whether there is bias in the officiating or not a big enough perception of it makes for an unsustainable situation either way.
And Forest making the same sort of allegations in an official capacity that fans do every week up and down the country will only increase suspicions.
It seems quite a naïve position to take that there is absolutely no chance that any officials are ever anything less than completely impartial, but it is going to be very difficult to prove since it is highly unlikely to be anything coordinated.
Everton fans have found themselves in a similar position of wondering what else can be done when the club have either seen their officiating complaints dismissed or, perhaps even worse, received apologies that are too late to alter a damaging result.
Sean Dyche’s side were fortunate this time since Young’s tendency for recklessness has already been punished multiple times this season but wasn’t on this occasion.
The Toffees themselves were much-improved from their 6-0 collapse against Chelsea earlier in the week, and goals from Idrissa Gana Gueye and Dwight McNeil could prove crucial in the fight for survival.
That has gone under the radar given the officiating controversies and Forest taking the nuclear option against Attwell and the PGMOL, but Dyche might actually prefer his players being out of the spotlight for once.
And with the visit of Liverpool in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday (24 April) coming so soon after there is plenty of scope for there to be more controversy this week that doesn’t go Everton’s way.
In other Everton news, a key figure has been tipped to suffer from the potential collapse of the 777 takeover.
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