{"id":387280,"date":"2024-04-22T20:33:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=387280"},"modified":"2024-04-23T00:04:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T00:04:43","slug":"var-is-a-luton-fan-club-slammed-over-tweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=387280","title":{"rendered":"'VAR is a Luton fan': Club slammed over tweet"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 42 million views and counting for an inflammatory social media post that might be unlike anything ever seen in English football<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The final whistle had just been blown on Nottingham Forest\u2019s 2-0 defeat at Everton in the Premier League on Sunday when a social media post on X was published by the frustrated losing club.<\/p>\n

It went beyond criticising match officials for perceived incompetence for the failure to award penalties for what Forest said were three clear fouls during the game.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Piastri fires up at F1 villain after Ricciardo crash<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Exit 'rumblings' reveal Storm star wants out<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Geyer slams Knights' call to risk Ponga with 'limp'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

It pointed to potential foul play by questioning the integrity of the Video Assistant Referee \u2014 Stuart Attwell \u2014 who, the club said, is a fan of Luton, which is battling with Forest to avoid relegation.<\/p>\n

Signing off, the post said Forest will \u201cconsider its options\u201d about how to proceed.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFFC\/status\/1782056187652960764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

The club has since released another statement, saying it has submitted a formal request for English football's referees' body to release the audio recordings between Attwell and on-field referee Anthony Taylor for the incidents in question in order to gain \u201cfull transparency\u201d and ensure \u201cthe integrity of our sport is upheld".<\/p>\n

The Premier League responded a few hours later, saying it was \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d by the nature of Forest's post-match statement and will be investigating the matter. The Football Association also confirmed it will be looking into the statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is never appropriate to improperly question the integrity of match officials,\u201d the Premier League said.<\/p>\n

Forest \u2014 a two-time European champion \u2014 has rarely been out of the news since returning to the Premier League last season, after an absence of 24 years, under the stewardship of larger-than-life owner Evangelos Marinakis.<\/p>\n

Signing a record 21 players at a cost of around $160 million in the first transfer window after promotion showed this was a club which would be doing things differently.<\/p>\n

Forest has been made to pay for that wild spree, with the club recently having been docked four points for breaching the league\u2019s financial rules. It is appealing against that sanction.<\/p>\n

This season, with the team again under the threat of relegation and in fourth-to-last place, Forest has adopted an us-against-the-world mentality for what it perceives to be poor refereeing decisions hurting the team. It has even hired former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg as a consultant this season.<\/p>\n

Clattenburg has been scrutinising the decisions of match officials and is answerable to Marinakis, a combustible Greek shipping magnate and media baron who \u2014 as owner of Olympiakos, Greece's largest club \u2014 has been known for frequent public outbursts against refereeing calls, run-ins with Greece's football federation and criticism of a decision in 2018 to use foreign referees for the biggest top-flight matches in his homeland.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In his column for British newspaper The Daily Mail, Clattenburg wrote on Monday that Forest has had to \u201cendure some egregious refereeing\u201d this season and that the decisions at Everton made it \u201cas grim a game as they have encountered since returning to the Premier League.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d Clattenburg wrote.<\/p>\n

A previous incident that angered Forest \u2014 and led to Marinakis going down to the touchline to express his unhappiness and later approach referee Paul Tierney \u2014 came in the team\u2019s 1-0 home loss to Liverpool in March.<\/p>\n

The winning goal arrived in the ninth minute of stoppage time \u2014 just eight minutes had been allotted \u2014 and only after a controversial call by the referee, with Forest not getting the ball back when play was stopped after Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate sustained a knock to the head at a Forest corner before the goal.<\/p>\n

Watch football's biggest clubs and best players in the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League,<\/strong> streaming ad free, live and exclusive on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Tierney blew his whistle with Forest in possession on the edge of Liverpool\u2019s area. After Konate quickly recovered, the referee dropped the ball to Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, who then started the attack that eventually led to the goal.<\/p>\n

Clattenburg pointed out that the ball should have gone back to the team that had possession when the game was stopped.<\/p>\n

That appears to be a clear refereeing error, like the one made in Liverpool\u2019s loss at Tottenham in October when there was a mix-up in communication between the on-field referee and the VAR.<\/p>\n

After that mistake, Liverpool said it would \u201cexplore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tensions are running high and the finances at stake in the lucrative Premier League are leading to clubs \u2014 and its fans on social media \u2014 getting bolder and more vocal with their complaints, especially about the use of a video review system that is not proving to be the solution that was promised.<\/p>\n

Forest went too far, though, according to Jamie Carragher, a former Liverpool and England defender who is now a leading pundit on British broadcaster Sky Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve just read there on social media, that\u2019s like a fan in a pub. That is embarrassing from Nottingham Forest,\u201d Carragher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get the frustration, but that rubbish, that the VAR is a Luton fan \u2014 they can\u2019t get involved in that. You\u2019ve got to show a little bit of class as a football club.\u201d<\/p>\n

An attempt to lighten the mood came from Crystal Palace in a post the club sent on X, after its 5-2 win over West Ham, that mimicked the language used by Forest in its incendiary tweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive extremely good goals \u2014 two goals conceded \u2014 which we simply have to accept,\u201d Palace wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalace will now enjoy their Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 42 million views and counting for an inflammatory social media post that might be unlike anything ever seen in English football. The final whistle […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":387282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=387280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":387283,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387280\/revisions\/387283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/387282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=387280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=387280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=387280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}