I am the Premier League's first referee analyst and I've seen four Nottingham Forest errors already

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has joined Nottingham Forest

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg insists he will help Nottingham Forest gain a greater understanding of the rules being enforced by officials in his new analyst role.

Last week the retired referee, who also stars on BBC’s primetime show Gladiators, was announced as the club’s new ‘match and performance analyst’. While the role is unique to the Premier League, across Europe clubs employ similar individuals to gain an understanding of the officials for their upcoming fixtures.

Discussing his new job with the Daily Mail, Clattenburg outlined four decisions which he felt wrongly went against Forest so far this season. He wrote: “It is not unusual for clubs in other countries to use refereeing consultants, though the Premier League has never embraced this idea to my knowledge.

“Until now, that is, because I’ll be working with Forest under the title of ‘match and performance analyst.’ I will help in the understanding of how and why certain decisions are made, prepare pre-match packs on the officiating teams taking charge of their fixtures, and one of my other main aims will be improving the relationship between the club and the PGMOL.

“It is no secret that Forest have been on the receiving end of controversial calls this season. There was Ivan Toney’s goal for Brentford when he moved the ball – and the referee’s foam – before scoring his free-kick. There was the harsh red card for Joe Worrall and penalty awarded for an apparent foul by Danilo against Manchester United.

“There was Willy Boly being shown a second yellow against Bournemouth even though he won the ball. There was the failure to award them an obvious penalty when Taiwo Awoniyi was tripped by Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

“These are not insignificant incidents when you are a club trying to stay in the Premier League.” While this is a concept embraced abroad, former United captain Gary Neville was less than impressed with the East Midlands club appointing Clattenburg.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville argued: “What is Mark Clattenburg doing? I’ve worked with Mark. What are you doing?

“You’re being employed to go and tell a football club how referees are making mistakes or what mistakes they’re making. A fan in the crowd could go and tell you what a referee is thinking.

“I’m disappointed with Nottingham Forest. It’s as if, look at all of this, woe me.

“I get it, some teams feel as though they’ve been hard done to, and some teams feel they’ve had bad decisions against them. That happens sometimes during a season and I would have hated it.

“But to employ an ex-referee to tell you why you’re having decisions against you. For me, I think it’s a step too far.

“This is not an attack on Nottingham Forest fans because some of them will probably think it’s embarrassing. They won’t like the decisions against them, but I’m sure they won’t sit there and think that’s a really good move by the club.”