Gary Neville has accused Liverpool of setting a precedent for an ’embarrassing’ course of action which has been replicated by a fellow Premier League club over the past 48 hours.
On two occasions in 2023, the Reds contacted the PGMOL to seek clarity over contentious decisions which went against them in a home draw against Aston Villa in May and the hugely controversial 2-1 loss at Tottenham in September (Liverpool Echo).
Nottingham Forest have also written to Howard Webb in the wake of their 3-2 defeat to Brentford on Saturday, demanding an explanation as to why Ivan Toney was allowed to move the ball and the vanishing spray for the free kick from which he scored their first-half equaliser (Sky Sports).
Taking to X upon hearing of the Midlands club’s actions, Neville fumed: “Clubs writing to the PGMOL is embarrassing! Liverpool and Arsenal started it and set the precedent of this nonsense.”
The 48-year-old expanded upon that sentiment in a follow-up tweet: “The refs should be doing better and are under enormous pressure at the moment. It’s in the clubs’ interests to work with them to make them improve.
“This public posturing is unnecessary. Speak to them and email them to gain clarification in private but they don’t have to ‘announce’ they’ve written to the PGMOL. It’s not going to change the decision and it’s not going to help anyone! It just adds to the pile on.”
Neville has some cheek to try and blame Liverpool for something which happened in a match in which Jurgen Klopp’s side had zero involvement. That’s on Nottingham Forest, pure and simple.
If the Sky Sports pundit’s beloved Manchester United were ever to contact PGMOL seeking clarity for a contentious decision which goes against them, would he rip into the club in the same way that he’s done here with the Reds and Arsenal?
He’s acknowledged that Premier League officials need to be ‘doing better’, and quite simply there have been too many major controversies in the top flight this season for the standard of officiating to go unchecked.
It was quite telling to hear David Moyes claim over the weekend (via Sky Sports) that his peers in England’s highest division seem resigned to accepting that poor officiating is part and parcel of the league now.
Players serve suspensions for getting sent off or accumulating yellow cards, while managers are always peering over their shoulders for fear of being sacked if results nosedive, yet referees face minimal accountability for errors they commit at a level where the stakes are extremely high.
Our message to Neville is that clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal and Forest are fed up of being undermined by substandard officiating and want to publicly highlight that they won’t merely accept it with a shoulder shrug. For that, they should be applauded rather than harangued.
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