Forest take up offer to listen to VAR audio linked to penalty appeals at Everton

Nottingham Forest have accepted an offer to listen to the VAR audio linked to three penalty claims in their match against Everton, the PA news agency understands.

Referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) extended an offer to Forest on Tuesday to hear the audio in private, after the club asked on Monday for the audio to be released publicly.

Sources close to the Premier League outfit were initially unhappy that the audio would not be released publicly as requested, but it is understood the club have now accepted the offer to hear it privately.

Nottingham Forest has today submitted a formal request to the PGMOL to release into the public domain the audio recordings between officials during yesterday’s match against Everton at Goodison Park.

The club has requested this be shared for three key match incidents - Ashley…

— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 22, 2024

Forest issued an extraordinary statement on social media immediately after their 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park, in which Forest said they had “warned” PGMOL before the match that VAR Stuart Attwell “was a Luton fan”, and PGMOL did nothing to change his appointment.

The Premier League could charge the club in relation to that statement, with the league saying it was “extremely disappointed” by their comments and adding that it was “never appropriate to improperly question the integrity of match officials”.

The club went on to call for rules on referees’ and VARs’ allegiances to be extended so that “contextual rivalries” as well as local rivalries were taken into account.

Referees do already declare allegiances and will not be assigned that team’s matches, or certain other fixtures such as those involving direct local rivals of that club.

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