Gary Neville has claimed the behaviour of analyst Mark Clattenburg has begun to give Nottingham Forest excuses not to win games, amid the latest controversy around the relegation-threatened club.
Former Premier League referee Clattenburg, 49, joined Forest midway through the season as a match and performance analyst. The team had been the victims of a number of contentious refereeing decisions, and Clattenburg's arrival was intended in part to help Forest better understand the rationale behind certain calls.
In the most recent round of weekend fixtures, Nuno Espirito Santo's men saw three penalty appeals ignored by referee Anthony Taylor and VAR official Stuart Attwell as they lost to Everton. The club put out a strongly-worded statement in the light of the loss, while Clattenburg himself addressed the matter in a newspaper column.
Pundit and ex-England defender Neville has been critical of Clattenburg in the past, questioning his decision to take up his role with the top-flight club. Now, in the days after details of a call between Clattenburg and PGMOL chief Howard Webb came to light, the former Manchester United captain has chimed in again.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Neville brought up a tweet from Forest in the light of the Everton drama. The club said they could "not accept" the outcome of the penalty calls, while referencing that VAR official Attwell is a fan of fellow strugglers Luton Town.
"You've got Clattenburg almost like a Navy Seal in the director's box, bear-crawling along trying to get to the CEO," Neville said. "The reason I asked him to resign was because if he actually saw that Luton tweet that went out, he actually has to distance himself from it or he's got to be part of it. If he's part of that, I'm like 'wow'.
Neville also pointed to Forest's form since Clattenburg's arrival. He mentioned that they have won just one of their last 10 games in all competitions, compared to four of the 10 before that, and sit one point above the relegation places with four games to go.
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"You never give football players or employees in any business a get-out or an excuse, ever," he continued. "He's [Clattenburg] given them an excuse to not win. Now that might sound really crazy, but when you put that negativity drain in... Neco Williams, who's probably a really good las, [he's] coming out on Sunday and he's talking about referees.
"The manager's talking about referees, they're all consumed about referees, and they've given themselves an [excuse of], everyone's against us. It's not working for them, this strategy of the way in which it's going.
"What they need to do is switch their mentality completely and forget about referees. Get Clattenburg out the director's box so the camera stops going on him and concentrate on football, because they're going to go down, based upon this, if they're not careful."
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