Nottingham Forest SUE Sky Sports over Gary Neville’s ‘mob gang’ comments in now-deleted post

NOTTINGHAM FOREST has launched legal action against Sky Sports following the broadcaster’s coverage of a social media post questioning the appointment of a referee.

This comes after Sky pundit Gary Neville criticized the club for their statement criticizing PGMOL following their 2-0 defeat to Everton.

After the final whistle, Forest’s official Twitter account posted: “Three extremely wrong decisions – three penalties not given – that we simply cannot accept.

“We warned PGMOL that VAR is a Luton fan before the game, but they didn’t change it. Our patience has been tested several times. The NFFC will now consider its options.”

They were questioning the appointment of Stuart Attwell and would later release another statement which said: “Nottingham Forest have today made a formal request to PGMOL to release into the public domain audio recordings between match officials during yesterday’s match against Everton at Goodison Park .

“The club requested that this be shared for three key incidents from the match – Ashley Young’s challenge on Giovanni Reyna (24th minute), Ashley Young’s handball (44th minute) and Ashley Young’s challenge on Callum Hudson-Odoi (56th minute). minutes).

“We strongly advocate that the wider football community and fans have access to the audio and transcript for full transparency, ensuring the integrity of our sport is maintained.”

This led Neville to liken the statement to something a mafia gang would release, which we revealed led Forest to consider taking legal action.

Now the Daily Mail states that “they have initiated legal action.”

They reported that Sky Sports also “took the decision to remove an article from its website on Friday night in which Neville appeared to backtrack on comments calling for former referee Mark Clattenburg to resign from his position at the City Ground following the controversy declaration”.

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Clattenburg left the club this week.

However, the Mail states that “Sky Sports insists that the decision to withdraw the article was purely an editorial decision and not related to any ongoing legal matter.”

Following the post, which has been viewed 45 million times, Neville said: “Mark Clattenburg must resign tonight.

“If he saw those words come out that question the integrity of a referee and claim that someone is a cheat for supporting another club, then he is supporting what is being said.

“He would lose all credibility with the game referees. He should withdraw tonight and distance himself from that statement.

“It’s like a statement from a mafia gang. I mean, honestly, what the hell are they playing at? It’s like a petulant child, it’s embarrassing.

“And some of these things they are saying there, the suggestion of some kind of inference of cheating because there is an official on VAR at Stockley Park who is a Luton fan is a scandal, and they are going to pay for it.”

Following the news that Attwell had pulled out, Neville said on Sky Sports on Friday: “I’m not surprised at all. I thought that after the statement made by Nottingham Forest, I don’t think any of us are asking people to resign.

“We don’t do that, sometimes we are obviously critical because that’s the job we do. But asking people to resign is a very serious and severe step.”

An article with the headline “Gary Neville: Mark Clattenburg’s dismissal is not surprising – ‘Forest made his job unsustainable’” then appeared on the Sky Sports website.

But this has since been removed from the website.

What did Nottingham Forest say?

After the final whistle against Everton, Nottingham Forest’s official Twitter account tweeted: “Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not awarded – that we simply cannot accept.

“We warned PGMOL that VAR is Luton fans before the game but they didn’t change it. Our patience has been tested several times.

“NFFC will now consider its options.”

On Monday, the club revealed that it asked PGMOL to release audio recordings between directors during the match.

A statement said: “Nottingham Forest have today made a formal request to PGMOL to release into the public domain audio recordings between match officials during yesterday’s match against Everton at Goodison Park.

“The club requested that this be shared for three key incidents in the match – Ashley Young’s challenge on Giovanni Reyna (24th minute), Ashley Young’s handball (44th minute) and Ashley Young’s challenge on Callum Hudson-Odoi (56th minute). minutes).

“We strongly advocate that the football community and wider fans have access to the audio and transcript for full transparency, ensuring the integrity of our sport is maintained.”