Nottingham Forest requests to hear the audio recording of the Video Assistant Referee after its loss to Manchester City
Nottingham Forest is requesting to hear the audio communications between the match officials and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system following the 2-1 loss to Manchester City on Saturday, in an attempt by the club to prepare a formal complaint.
The club appears completely dissatisfied with referee Robert Jones’s decisions during the “City” match at the City Ground, reaching the point of complaining to the body responsible for match officials, Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Through this, the club is trying to hear the conversations between the on-field officials and the VAR system during decisive moments.
Team manager Sean Dyche insisted that Rayan Cherki’s winning goal in the 83rd minute should have been disallowed due to a foul committed against Morgan Gibbs-White, noting that referee Jones should have shown Manchester City player Ruben Dias a second red card after the match was interrupted.
Dyche said on Saturday: “In my opinion, this was a very easy match to manage, a very easy decision for VAR.”
On the other hand, he pointed out that “after the team played excellently, we have to go back and say the officials affected the course of the match—but they clearly did.”
He added: “Everyone in the stadium and everyone watching the match from home saw it clearly.”
Nottingham Forest players protested to referee Jones, claiming that Gibbs-White was pushed to the ground by Nico O’Reilly while defending a corner and was prevented from stopping Cherki from scoring the winning goal.
Dyche said: “Morgan Gibbs-White definitely went to the ground and has the same player involved in the goal situation.”
He added: “But he couldn’t stop it because after he stands up, the ball passes through the part of his body that would have blocked it. Regardless of how you look at it, it’s a foul.”
The VAR system reviewed the goal but allowed the referee’s on-field decision to stand. The loss left Nottingham Forest five points away from the Premier League relegation zone.
PGMOL has previously offered audio files to clubs privately—including Nottingham Forest—as the head of the refereeing department at the company, Howard Webb, reviews matches on the “Matchmakers” program.
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