Sky Sports has issued a grovelling apology to Nottingham Forest after Gary Neville accused the club’s ownership of behaving like a “Mafia gang”.
Neville was highly critical of Forest for their brutal statement in the wake of the club’s chaotic defeat at Everton, also insisting that former referee Mark Clattenburg should resign from his position as a consultant.
Forest were furious after being denied what they felt were three clear penalties, with a post on social media also suggesting that VAR Stuart Attwell was a fan of Luton Town, who were also fighting to avoid relegation at the time.
Evangelos Marinakis, the Forest owner, was angered by Neville’s post-match comments on Sky Sports when the former Manchester United defender hit out at the club’s controversial statement.
Forest are understood to have sent Sky a legal letter of complaint and today Neville and the broadcasting giant released a joint statement.
It read: “In response to a Nottingham Forest statement outlining their grievances with PGMOL following their match with Everton on 21 April, Gary Neville, commenting on Super Sunday, strongly criticised Nottingham Forest’s approach. Sky Sports have discussed with Gary the language used and its potential to cause offence. Gary has agreed not to use the same or similar terms in future coverage. Sky Sports apologises to Nottingham Forest for any offence caused by this language.”
Forest’s controversial defeat at Everton left Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad deep in relegation trouble in April, with the club later demanding audio of the VAR officials. The club posted on X, previously known as Twitter, that they “simply cannot accept” the decisions at Goodison Park.
Neville, 49, later said: ‘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.”
Clattenburg, the club’s former consultant, officially resigned from his position in April and has since admitted that his role was misunderstood.
Forest avoided relegation to the Championship by six points, despite being docked four points by the Premier League for breaching financial controls.