Clattenburg: Forest owner ‘right to be angry’ after Liverpool defeat

Former referee employed as an analyst for the club defends his chairman’s actions and says Paul Tierney made a mistake that led to the goal

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis stormed onto the City Ground pitch at the final whistle to confront referee Paul Tierney after Liverpool grabbed a crucial winner nine minutes into added time.
Forest’s first-team coach Steven Reid was sent off amid chaotic post-match scenes after a result which put Liverpool four points clear at the top of the Premier League but left the home side four points above the drop zone.
It is understood Reid and Marinakis were saying “respect the players, respect the players” as they followed Tierney down the tunnel. 
Mark Clattenburg, the former Premier League official who works as a referee analyst for Forest, defended “upset” Marinakis and claimed that Tierney did not follow the laws of the game in the pivotal moment of the match.
Tierney stopped play for a head injury to Ibrahima Konaté before then allowing Liverpool to restart play, with Darwin Núñez scoring the winning goal two minutes later. The Professional Game Match Officials Ltd has confirmed that Tierney did make an error by not awarding possession to the home team.
“Everything seems to be going against Nottingham Forest at the moment,” said Clattenburg. “The owner is quite upset because he has invested a lot of money in the football club and he wants to see results, he feels that another decision has gone against the club and quite rightly he’s upset.
“I think everyone is sad that they have lost in this way and hopefully their luck will change in the future.
“As a club, Forest felt there have been one or two decisions that have gone against the club – decisions that the PGMOL have accepted that there has been a mistake and today was another example where the law is quite clear.”
Clattenburg said Tierney had made a major error by declining to give Forest the ball after stopping the game.
He also admitted that Forest will consider their next move after already submitting three complaints to the PGMOL over controversial decisions this season.
“The ball has to go back to the team that has possession, and Nottingham Forest clearly had that possession,” he said.
“In that crucial moment, Forest have the ball in the corner, so they can absorb the time to see the time out to get the result.
“The ball has gone back to Liverpool, they don’t get it back and there’s a corner. There’s an argument that they could clear their lines but it’s from that initial moment and players lose concentration because they feel there has been an injustice.
“I’ll be sitting down with the board and the owners to try and explain what’s happened and it’s difficult to do that at the moment.
“We’ll be speaking with the PGMOL and the Premier League and we’ll discuss the correct course of action in the near future.”