da casino： The club's statement in the wake of their damaging defeat to Everton was completely misguided, as they are not the only victims

da dobrowin： In the opulent world of Premier League football, it takes something quite extraordinary to provoke genuine shock and surprise. Nottingham Forest surpassed that high bar on Sunday afternoon, releasing a quite extraordinary statement following their 2-0 defeat to fellow relegation candidates Everton.

"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," they wrote on X.

At the time of writing, that post has been viewed almost 40 million times, and reaction to the statement has been vociferous. Shortly after it went up, pundit Jamie Carragher responded strongly, deriding it as sounding like a "fan in the pub" sounding off.

"It tells us where we are with the Premier League and the clubs. (VAR) Stuart Attwell and (referee) Anthony Taylor have had a horrific day, awful, and they should be rightly criticised for that," he said. "And that could have real implications for Nottingham Forest. I get the frustration. But what I’ve just read on social media – that’s like a fan in the pub. I get the frustration. Rubbish. ‘The VAR is a Luton fan’ – don’t get involved in that. You’ve got to show a little bit of class. That’s nonsense."

Getty ImagesRight to be fuming

This unbelievable statement was forged in the fires of righteous condemnation sparked by a trio of extraordinary refereeing decisions at Goodison Park that all involved Ashley Young. The first came in the 24th minute, when Young lazily swung his 38-year-old leg in the direction of Gio Reyna. The United States star unsurprisingly darted in before the former Manchester United man and soon hit the deck. It certainly looked like a penalty, but VAR Attwell confirmed Taylor's on-field decision after a brief check.

Not long after Idrissa Gueye opened the scoring for Everton, there was an even more controversial incident. Morgan Gibbs-White floated a ball to the back post, spotting the run of Callum Hudson-Odoi. The winger took a nicetouch, but the ball's trajectory was blocked by Young's arm. Despite the defender's arm being away from his body, once again both the referee and VAR refused to award a spot-kick.

Bad news comes in threes, and Forest's misery was compounded in the second half when Young again got himself in a spot of bother. This time the defender clattered into Hudson-Odoi from behind, though Forest would find themselves frustrated again. Everton would then put the game beyond all doubt through Dwight McNeil.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesNot the first time

To make matters worse, Sunday's farce was only the latest instance of Forest being on the wrong side of refereeing controversy this season too. All the way back in August, the Trees were denied of a famous point at Old Trafford when Marcus Rashford went down under minimal contact from Danilo in the penalty box, with Bruno Fernandes converting the resultant penalty.

Then, in December, Willy Boly was handed a second yellow 23 minutes into Forest's Premier League clash with Bournemouth. It was, to put it mildly, a rather baffling decision, with the centre-back cleanly winning the ball. And there's no doubt that playing with 10 men for so long contributed to the Cherries' scoring a sickening 94th-minute winner at the City Ground.

Nuno Espirito Santo was seething after the game, saying: "Our fans deserve better decisions. They come here to see football and suddenly they see something which really changes the game. The frustration is huge. All of us are upset."

GettyIncidents rack up

Nuno was similarly befuddled after his side's clash with Brentford the following month. In that one, Ivan Toney controversially moved the position of a first-half free-kick, providing the England striker just enough room to curl home a low effort.

"Everyone in the room will have seen the ball displacement and the law is clear. Every goal must be checked. Every situation must be checked, when it leads to a goal," Nuno said at full-time, with Forest later lodging a complaint to the Premier League about the decision to allow the goal to stand.

Taiwo Awoniyi likely should have won a penalty against Newcastle in February too, with Martin Dubravka clipping the centre-forward's heels as his raced through to score. Scoring the resulting spot-kick would have earned Forest a precious point.

Then, in March, there was the Liverpool controversy, with the Reds being given possession back following a collision in the box despite their visitors having the ball when play was stopped. Jurgen Klopp's side would score their winner shortly after wrongly regaining possession.

GettyAnger understandable – but not justified

With this additional context, Forest's fury in the wake of the Everton game makes far more sense. But is their righteous anger justified?

Yes, the sheer volume of refereeing decisions that have gone against them is pretty staggering. However, by veering into conspiracy-theory territory with their dig at Attwell's apparent Luton allegiances, they have surely gone too far. A statement simply saying they were unhappy with the decisions and planned to raise this with PGMOL would have been more palatable, though no less pointless in the grand scheme of things.

But by veering into extremes – questioning the integrity of an official – it makes one wonder if it was an attempt at deflection. For all of their refereeing misfortune, Forest have performed well below par this campaign. Even with their four-point deduction added back on, they would still be just barely hovering above the drop zone.

This is despite eye-watering investment in the first team since their promotion in 2022, with Forest reportedly possessing the 11th-highest wage bill in the entire Premier League.

Evangelos Marinakis is hardly the perfect owner, either. His spending may have got Forest up, but it has also earned them a points deduction and left manager Nuno with an imbalanced squad. He's also made the controversial decision to hike up season-ticket prices by an average of 24 percent recently. Of course, these facts will now be lost in the news cycle, with the focus squarely on the fallout from the statement.