Forest fined £750,000 for Attwell VAR post
Nottingham Forest have been fined £750,000 by the Football Association for an “attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale” following a social media post last season.
Forest claimed video assistant referee (VAR) Stuart Attwell was a fan of Luton Town, who were also battling relegation at the time, when they complained on social media platform X about three penalty decisions that went against them during a 2-0 defeat by relegation rivals Everton on 21 April.
The club denied they had questioned the integrity of officials or brought the game into disrepute.
But an independent commission found against them, adding that it noted “clear evidence of a lack of genuine remorse” from Forest and Attwell was the clear “victim” of the “ill-chosen and irresponsible” post.
The club were also warned by the panel over their conduct.
Forest said they would appeal against what they described as a “disproportionate” fine.
Everton 2-0 Nottingham Forest: Nuno Espírito Santo angry over ‘clear penalties’ not being
What happened?
Nottingham Forest issued the highly critical post on X about five minutes after full-time in that April match at Goodison Park – which left the club one point above the relegation zone at the time.
In a controversial game, Forest were upset by referee Anthony Taylor ignoring three penalty appeals, including when Everton’s Ashley Young handled in the closing moments of the opening half and then when the veteran tangled with Callum Hudson-Odoi as he raced in on goal.
The Key Match Incident Panel – an independent panel that reviews decisions after each round of Premier League fixtures – found Forest should have been awarded a penalty for Young’s challenge on Hudson-Odoi in the 55th minute.
Forest said they had “warned” the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) that “the VAR is a Luton fan but they didn’t change him”.
“Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept,” the club posted on X, external on 21 April.
“Our patience has been tested multiple times.”
Although they did not name the official, the VAR was Attwell.
Forest were charged by the FA, who sought a fine in excess of £1m over the club’s “egregious, direct and public attack”.
The written reasons for the ruling confirmed that Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer of PGMOL, and Mark Clattenburg, then a referee analyst employed by Forest, did discuss the fact that Attwell was a Luton fan during a call on 19 April – two days before the match.
However, the commission says it was “common ground” between the parties that no representations or requests were made to change the VAR for the match.
Attwell gave a statement to the panel which described the “stress, distress, fear and embarrassment caused to him” as a result of the post.
The panel found the impact on the official had “plainly been very significant,” adding: “To Stuart Attwell, the harm has continued well beyond the short period contended for by NFFC.”
Everton’s win over Forest moved them five points clear of the relegation zone with a game in hand on Luton, with Forest in deep trouble, only a point ahead of the Hatters.
In the end, both Forest and Everton stayed up while Luton went down.
Clattenburg left his position at Forest on the day the club were charged by the FA, having been given a formal warning himself.
What were the panel’s key findings?
The independent commission published two lots of written reasons around Forest’s liability and the sanction given out.
Some of the key findings included:
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Forest admitted their original “VAR is a Luton fan” post on X had not been prepared with sufficient care and there was a “failure to develop a series of comments into a coherent statement”.
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The panel said there was a “lack of a cool head” and the post was “borne out of irresponsibility and a lack of accountability”.
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Forest could not identify the author of each post. The commission concluded that was not deliberate, but was “symptomatic of the wholly cavalier approach to the contents of the post”.
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The panel also took into consideration, on the scale of the offence, that Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis gave a newspaper interview three weeks later saying there was the possibility of a “vendetta” by match officials against his club.
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Referees chief Webb said the post “has the potential of serving as a green light to those who seek to abuse officials and normalises questioning the integrity of all referees”.
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The panel said that “sadly, and somewhat surprisingly”, Forest’s communications department “has not been invited to consider whether the offending post should be removed, or an official apology be made to Mr Attwell”.
Idrissa Gueye (pictured) and Dwight McNeil scored with long-range efforts in each half in the win over Nottingham Forest
What has the response been?
The FA said that no other professional club had breached its regulations designed to control the use of social media in such a manner, describing it as a public attack on the integrity of a match official on an “unparalleled scale”.
“Even the drafters of the rule could not have foreseen a breach of this nature by a professional club,” the FA said.
Confirming they will appeal, Forest released a statement saying they were “extremely disappointed” with the outcome.
It read: “Nottingham Forest Football Club is extremely disappointed with the decision of the regulatory commission to impose a £750,000 fine in relation to comments posted on social media following our Premier League fixture against Everton on Sunday, 21 April.
“We are particularly concerned that the FA, in its submissions, sought a sanction ‘in excess of £1m’.
“We believe that this request, along with the subsequent fine, is wholly disproportionate.”
Forest had asked for the fine to be suspended but the FA rejected the request.
What next for Forest?
Comments made by manager Nuno Espirito Santo and defender Neco Williams in relation to the officiating at the Everton game also resulted in sanctions, with Nuno given a suspended one-match touchline ban, a £40,000 fine and a warning as to his future conduct, and Williams warned and fined £24,000.
Nuno has since been charged again by the FA in September after being shown a red card during a match against Brighton.
Earlier this month, Forest owner Marinakis was charged by the FA over an allegation that he behaved in an improper manner close to the tunnel at the City Ground following his side’s defeat to Fulham.
Forest are next in action on 21 October when they host Crystal Palace (20:00 BST).
They sit 10th in the Premier League table after losing just one of their opening seven games.