Mark Clattenburg labelled the officiating in Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 defeat Everton “a joke” after his side were denied three penalties at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Former Premier League referee Clattenburg works as a consultant for Forest and was in attendance for the match.

Forest’s Giovanni Reyna and Callum Hudson-Odoi —twice — had claims for penalties waved away by referee Anthony Taylor, decisions that were endorsed by video assistant referee (VAR) Stuart Atwell.

In his Daily Mail column published on Sunday evening, Clattenburg, 49, criticised the appointment of “Luton fan” Atwell as VAR and called the decisions not to award three spot kicks “a hat-trick of howlers”.

“One of these errors would have been bad enough,” he wrote. “Three was a joke, and that is why Nottingham Forest were left feeling victimised after another defeat in which zero big decisions went their way.

“It was a hat-trick of howlers from the refereeing team and, unfortunately for Forest, a continuation of an unjust trend that has hampered their survival fight.”

Forest said in a statement on X after the game that they were considering taking legal action against the PGMOL — the body responsible for refereeing in England.

“You will have seen the statement released by the club – how the PGMOL were contacted to warn that it was not appropriate for a Luton fan such as Attwell to play such a pivotal role in a massive match that would impact the relegation race,” Clattenburg added.

Clattenburg continued, saying “all of this could have been avoided had the PGMOL simply made smarter appointments”, adding “referees do not make mistakes deliberately but this was mind-boggling to watch”.

Here’s Danny Taylor on how yesterday’s drama unfolded and what could happen now…