Mark Clattenburg takes a swipe at Gary Neville after criticism of new Nottingham Forest role

Hitting back… Mark Clattenburg

Mark Clattenburg has hit back at criticism of his new role at Nottingham Forest by Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.

The former Manchester United man said on Sky that Forest’s appointment of Clattenburg to advise them on refereeing matters was a “step too far”. But Clattenburg has now responded, telling The Times: “I am disappointed that Gary Neville has come out with what he said.”

Clattenburg, who is the referee on the BBC’s Saturday evening show Gladiators, added: “His employer, Sky Sports, employs ex-referees to help fans and viewers understand the laws of the game, and Nottingham Forest are just doing the same.”

Neville said: “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 is me. I get it, some teams feel as though they’ve been hard done to, 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.”

It is understood Forest see Clattenburg as being their expert conduit between the club and Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), who can give his perspective on how rules are being implemented and on the occasions when the club ought to provide feedback to PGMOL chief refereeing officer Howard Webb.

It is expected he would lead the contact between the club and PGMOL and provide advice on the refereeing teams involved in Forest’s upcoming matches. It is understood the Premier League has raised no objections to Clattenburg’s appointment.

The 48-year-old left the Premier League in 2018 to take up a post in Saudi Arabia before moving to Greece. He got to know Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis during his spell as head of refereeing in Greece, but relations between the two were not always close. In 2020, Marinakis’s Greek club, Olympiacos, issued a statement saying they had withdrawn their confidence in Clattenburg as head of the country’s referees.

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