Forest claim Premier League appointed a Luton Town fan as VAR official for Everton defeat

Nottingham Forest has accused the FA of appointing a Luton Town fan to be in charge of VAR ahead of their controversial 2-0 defeat against relegation rivals Everton yesterday, in which the Reds felt they were denied three clear penalties.

With the scores goalless at Goodison Park, Ashley Young caught the back of Gio Reyna’s heel inside the area, the Reds man falling to the floor, only for referee Anthony Taylor to wave the calls for a spot-kick away. He did so again after the Toffees had broken the deadlock, Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross striking the arm of Young, before quite possibly the most dubious call of all, Young involved again, appearing to foul Hudson-Odoi as he looked to collect a pass in the box, Taylor signalling the ex-Watford man had got the ball.

Each time he wasn’t told to change his decisions, or even go to the monitor by the official in Stockley Park, which was Stuart Attwell. Following the game, the Reds claimed they had raised concerns with the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) prior to the fixture about Nuneaton-born Attwell, over their beliefs he is in fact a Town supporter.

A strongly worded statement on the club’s official Twitter page said: “Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”

Asked about the decisions and also the club's post, Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo, who saw his side remain a point above the Hatters with just four games to go now, said: “We knew and as a club we made a formal complaint saying that we would like to change the VAR situation. They didn’t do it and it's here to see so it wasn’t good. I share the feeling of the club because it is not only this game. It has been a while that we have had poor decisions going against us. It is not an excuse but we are not happy with the work of the referees.

"I don't understand the reason and the decision of Anthony Taylor and VAR Stuart Attwell, because I see the images. It's understandable that we react like this as a club because we want to get things right. We don't want bad referees. We want good decisions.”

Meanwhile ex-top flight referee Mark Clattenburg, who was named the first referee performance and match analyst at the City Ground recently, wrote in a column for the Daily Mail about Attwell, who has never refereed a Luton game before: “Certainly, I would not have risked this situation if I were the head of the referees and all of this could have been avoided had the PGMOL simply made smarter appointments. These situations were precisely why video technology was brought into the Premier League and yet, Attwell did not send Taylor to his monitor. Not once. It was a hat-trick of howlers from the refereeing team and, unfortunately for Forest, a continuation of an unjust trend that has hampered their survival fight."