Forest offered chance to listen to VAR audio

Nottingham Forest will be offered the chance to privately hear VAR audio from three penalty claims in their match against Everton last Sunday.

On Monday, the club called for the audio between video assistant referee Stuart Attwell and on-field official Anthony Taylor to be released publicly.

Forest were furious after three penalty appeals were rejected in the 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park, which kept them just a point above the Premier League relegation zone.

The rulings sparked an angry post on the club’s X account, where Forest said they were “considering their options” over “extremely poor” refereeing decisions.

It is understood that the refereeing body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) will give the club the opportunity to hear the audio in private, as it would with any other club making a similar request.

No decision has yet been taken on whether this audio will feature in the next edition of ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’, a Premier League Productions programme that analyses VAR decisions from previous games, which will air next Tuesday evening.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Forest said of the audio: “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.”

It follows Liverpool’s similar request when Luis Diaz’s goal was incorrectly disallowed in their 2-1 defeat at Tottenham in September.

PGMOL believes that was an extreme case as it was a factual error, with the officials mistakenly stating an incorrect on-field decision around Diaz being offside should stand, when it should have been overturned.