Nottingham Forest launch legal action against Sky Sports over Gary Neville’s ‘mafia gang’ comments in now-deleted post

NOTTINGHAM FOREST have launched legal action against Sky Sports after the broadcaster’s coverage of a social media post questioning a match official’s appointment, according to reports.

It comes after Sky pundit Gary Neville slammed the club for their statement criticising the PGMOL in the wake of their 2-0 defeat to Everton.

After the final whistle, Forest's official Twitter account posted: “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 were questioning the appointment of Stuart Attwell and would later release another statement that read: “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 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).

“We firmly advocate for the broader football community and supporters to have access to the audio and transcript for full transparency, ensuring the integrity of our sport is upheld.”

That led Neville to liken the statement to something a "mafia gang" would put out, which we revealed led to Forest considering taking legal action.

Now the states that the club "have launched legal action”.

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

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Clattenburg did leave the club this week.

However, the Mail says “Sky Sports insist the decision to withdraw the piece was purely an editorial decision and not related to any ongoing legal matter”.

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

“If he saw those words go out which question the integrity of a referee and claims someone is a cheat for supporting another club then he's supporting what is being said. 

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

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

“And some of those things they're saying in there, the suggestion of some sort of inferring of cheating because there's an official in VAR in Stockley Park who's a Luton fan is a scandal, and they will pay for that.”

After the news that Clattenburg had quit, Neville said on Sky Sports on Friday: “I'm not surprised at all. I thought that after the statement that Nottingham Forest made, I don't think any of us ask for people to resign.

“We don't do that, we're obviously critical at times because that's the job we're in. But to ask for people to resign is a very serious step and a severe step.”

An article that was headlined “Gary Neville: Mark Clattenburg resignation not surprising - ‘Forest made his job untenable’” then appeared on the Sky Sports website.

But that has since been taken down from the site.