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05th Jul 2024

Sky Sports forced to apologise for Gary Neville’s language during rant

Zoe Hodges

Sky Sports have been forced to apologise to Nottingham Forest due to comments made by Gary Neville.

The incident happened after Forest lost 2-0 to Everton on April 21st. Forest believed they were denied three penalties and the club took to X to release an explosive statement about the standard of officiating.

The club questioned the appointment of Stuart Attwell as VAR saying: “We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game, but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.”

However, the former Manchester United defender turned pundit likened Forest’s actions to those of a ‘mafia gang’.

Club owner Evangelos Marinakis confirmed to Mail Sport that his lawyers had been in contact with Sky regarding Neville’s comments and said ‘this is not over yet’.

He said: “The comments and words he used were inappropriate, didn’t correspond with reality and harmed people.”

Today, Sky Sports posted a statement on their website which read: “In response to a Nottingham Forest statement outlining their grievances with PGMOL following their match with Everton on 21st April Gary Neville, commenting on Super Sunday, strongly criticised Nottingham Forest’s approach.

“Sky Sports have discussed with Gary the language used and its potential to cause offence. Gary has agreed not to use the same or similar terms in future coverage. Sky Sports apologise to Nottingham Forest for any offence caused by this language.”

Forest were docked four points last season for breaking spending rules but managed to survive in the top flight under the guidance of Nuno Espirito Santo who replaced Steve Cooper in December.

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