Everton: ‘Troubling’ Mark Clattenberg verdict shared after ’embarrassing’ Forest reaction
Liverpool Echo journalist Matt Jones has labelled Nottingham Forest’s reaction to their defeat at Everton on Sunday (21 April) as “embarrassing”.
In a huge relegation six-pointer at the bottom of the Premier League, Everton came out on top 2-0 at Goodison Park, but the game was shrouded in controversy.
Three contentious penalty decisions went against the visitors, with Ashley Young the perceived culprit on each occasion.
Post-match, a social media post from Forest then called into question the integrity of VAR official Stuart Attwell, with the club claiming his support of Luton Town meant he was unfit to take charge of the encounter.
Former referee and Forest’s ‘match and performance analyst’ Mark Clattenburg would go on to write that the decisions were “mind-boggling” in his Daily Mail column [21 April], stating the officials should probably have been changed to avoid this scenario.
The reaction from the club has sparked widespread discourse, much of which has criticised Forest for how they have acted.
Jones did not hold back in his opinion of the situation, writing in the Liverpool Echo (22 April): “In fairness to the Tricky Trees, they can feel hard done by based on [Sunday’s] game. For me, the third incident involving Ashley Young is undoubtedly a penalty – the first two feel like 50/50 calls – and that not being given will sting. Like Everton, they will feel the world is against them due to decisions and deductions.
“But the manner in which toys were flung out of the pram on the full-time whistle was embarrassing.
“The way in which Forest’s new mouthpiece Mark Clattenburg – a man who once produced a refereeing performance so bad in a Merseyside derby he didn’t referee Everton for six years after – has parroted the club’s line in his Daily Mail article is troubling.”
Nottingham Forest and Mark Clattenburg set dangerous precedent after Everton complaints
While Forest are right to feel aggrieved over at least two of the penalty decisions that went against them at the weekend, the club and a member of staff responding in such fashion is wholly irresponsible.
In an era where the footballing authorities are demanding more respect for match officials, the precedent set by Forest and Clattenburg is a worrying one.
For a professional organisation and former referee to imply that an official at the highest level could be biased due to his own allegiances will only increase the potential for abusive comments to be aimed at them.
In this situation too, Atwell’s supposed Luton links seem fairly insignificant anyway, considering Everton are also a side the Hatters will have looked to chase down in order to avoid relegation.
With Luton still to host the Toffees at Kenilworth Road at the start of May, it can be argued that it would have been in their best interests for Everton to still be in the relegation picture ahead of that encounter.
The 2-0 win for Sean Dyche’s men has now moved Everton five points clear of 18th-placed Luton while still having a game in hand, and winnable home games against Brentford and Sheffield United are still on the horizon.
In other Everton news, pundit Chris Sutton predicts the scoreline for Wednesday’s (24 April) Merseyside derby.
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