The Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) is perplexed at reports that Nottingham Forest have submitted a dossier of evidence highlighting refereeing errors in their Premier League games this season, sources told ESPN, with only two pieces of evidence submitted.
Forest have been aggrieved at several refereeing decisions, including during last weekend’s 2-2 draw against Everton when boss Steve Cooper felt key calls went against his team.
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PGMOL, the body responsible for match officials in English professional football, has an independent assessment panel created to impartially judge all key match incidents and highlight refereeing errors where appropriate.
Forest have had incorrect decisions against them, including the penalty awarded to Brentford through an incorrect VAR intervention, but the list is not extensive.
Sources told ESPN that Forest have only submitted two clips from the Everton game, which were received this weekend despite the club saying the dossier had been sent at the start of last week.
Howard Webb, PGMOL’s chief refereeing officer, met with Nottingham Forest only a few of weeks ago. Ahead of Forest’s Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur, Cooper described the meeting with Webb and other senior PGMOL officials as “positive.”
Webb, who returned to English football in December to head up PGMOL, is attempting to make the organisation more open and transparent over decisions.
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Earlier this year Webb admitted referees had a made a series of high profile errors, including the failure to disallow Brentford’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Arsenal for offside.
That error led to the departure of Lee Mason as a full-time VAR after he failed to identify that Brentford’s Christian Norgaard was offside before he created Ivan Toney’s goal.
