EXCLUSIVE
Jeff Stelling has labelled Nottingham Forest’s reported intentions to sue Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville as ‘nonsense'.
It comes after Neville slammed Nottingham Forest before calling for the club’s referee analyst Mark Clattenburg to resign from his position.
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Forest took to social media platform X on Sunday in protest over the officiating in their 2-0 defeat at Everton.
A statement from the Midlands club accused the PGMOL of appointing a Luton Town supporter in the VAR team for the relegation clash at Goodison Park.
Forest were aggrieved by a number of decisions they felt went against them even with the intervention of VAR.
Reacting to the post put out by the club, Neville lambasted Forest’s approach calling it a ‘scandal’.
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"It's like a mafia gang statement, honestly... what the hell are they playing at?" he told Sky Sports.
"It's like a petulant child, it's embarrassing. Some of the things they're saying, the inferring of cheating because there's an official in VAR who's a Luton fan, is a scandal and they will pay for that.
"Mark Clattenburg must resign tonight [Sunday]," Neville added. "He must resign from his job at Nottingham Forest.
"Because if he sees those words go out that question the integrity and essentially call a VAR official a cheat because he supports a certain club then he's supporting what's being said.
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"He'd basically lose all credibility I think with referees in the game.
"He should stand down tonight and distance himself from that statement in my opinion."
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Reports on Tuesday morning claim Forest’s legal team are in the process of drafting a letter to Sky concerning Neville’s comments and are seriously considering taking legal action.
However Stelling, a former colleague of Neville, has condemned the idea, calling it nonsense.
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“There’s talk that they may sue Gary Neville now that is going a step too far just for somebody using a certain phrase and expressing his opinion, I mean, that is nonsense,” Stelling told talkSPORT.
“They want the audio between the officials and I get that, maybe the audio should be released but what do Forest think it’s going to say?
“Are they expecting Stuart Attwell to say ‘penalty, but I’m not giving that as it’ll affect Luton.”
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Nottingham Forest are likely to face heavy punishment from the Football Association over the statement and further comments made by club officials.
The FA have requested observations from the club, Clattenburg, boss Nuno Espirito Santo, and defender Neco Williams.