In reaction to Gary Neville’s comparison of the Nottingham Forest team’s handling of the penalty debate to a “mafia gang,” the club may file a lawsuit against Sky Sports.
Neville publicly condemned Forest for making a contentious comment that questioned the objectivity of VAR official Stuart Attwell.
The team is now considering their options how to respond.
The Daily Mail claims that Forest’s legal department is writing a letter to Sky on Neville’s remarks, so that might take the shape of legal action.
A statement from Forest on X stated that the team had “warned” refereeing body PGMOL about VAR official Attwell’s support of relegation rivals Luton prior to the game.
Shortly after the full-time whistle ended Sunday’s Premier League defeat to Everton, in which three penalty appeals were denied, Forest expressed dissatisfaction.
The FA and the Premier League are both looking into Forest’s actions, and Neville wasn’t happy with the statement.
“It’s like a mafia gang statement, honestly,” Neville said on Sky Sports.
“I mean what are they playing at? Look, I think anybody and everybody would have empathy and some sympathy for Forest this season with some of the decisions that they’ve had. The statement is like a petulant child. It’s embarrassing. But they’re grabbing defeat from victory.
“They could say, ‘Why should we sit here and be badly done to and not say anything’. You can potentially come out at the end of the game – and the manager is a great spokesman at the end of the game, so is your captain – and say that we’re not accepting the quality of decisions that are going against us, and that would have a real impact.”
Nottingham Forest demand clarity over referee appointment
Forest acknowledges that they “acted emotionally and with haste” while making the statement, according to the Mail story.
A longer and more detailed statement released on Monday night, however, asked PGMOL to modify its regulations regarding referee allegiances—the team a referee may support or have local ties to—to incorporate “contextual rivalries,” as the club put it, like the rivalry between Forest and Luton in their fight to remain in the Premier League.