Former Premier League referee Jeff Winter thinks Stuart Attwell 'possibly has a case for legal action' after Nottingham Forest accused the 41-year-old of being a Luton Town fan.
Attwell was on VAR duty as Everton beat Nuno Espirito Santo's team 2-0 on Sunday courtesy of goals from Idrissa Gueye.
Forest were incensed, however, believing they should have been given three penalties during the match.
They released a stinging statement on X that said: "Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.
Stuart Attwell was accused of being a Luton Town fan by Nottingham Forest after their defeat to Everton
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"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.
"NFFC will now consider its options."
It is currently unknown if Attwell is indeed a Luton Town fan.
And former Premier League referee Winter, speaking to OLBG, thinks Attwell could potentially have a case for legal action in the wake of Forest's bombshell statement.
"Stuart Attwell has been put in a very awkward position here," he said.
"He possibly has a case for legal action against Nottingham Forest. "Although I doubt that will happen because as an employee of the PGMOL it will be them and indeed the FA who decide what will happen next.
"It does put a weight on Attwell’s shoulders because if indeed that is true, and it is yet to be proven, then is he ever going to referee Luton Town?
"Has he in the past? Is he going to be able to referee at Nottingham Forest again?
"If you have a situation where managers and clubs are criticising referees, there are going to be problems in the future because of hand-picking referees.
"It’s a very unsavory incident and I don’t think we have heard the last of it."
Winter also feels Forest should retract their statement, too.
"Having heard the accusations and feelings of Forest after the game, my initial reaction was one of shock," he said.
"We are opening a real can of worms here, fans will always see things the way of their teams and conspiracy theories will always be out there.
"However, to doubt the integrity of match officials is just adding fuel to the flames and Nottingham Forest hopefully will print a retraction on this or otherwise face the consequences.
"We have always had situations where referees have been criticised, but to say it’s been done because of their support of another club is taking it to a new level."
Jeff Winter feels Stuart Attwell 'possibly has a case for legal action' after controversy in Nottingham Forest's defeat to Everton
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Winter feels Forest have every right to be angry with the decisions that went against them.
But he believes VAR is making the situation tougher than it needs to be, instead of resolving matters.
"Regarding the actual decisions in the game, yes, perhaps Forest have reason to feel aggrieved," he continued.
"But all fans have a view and every team over the course of a season is going to turn around and say we should have had this, we should have had that.
"That’s why we have referees, the referee’s decision is final.
Nottingham Forest felt they should have been given three penalties in their defeat to Everton on Sunday
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"Now the referees make decisions, they blow the final whistle but the decisions are being made by other people and this is where the root problem comes from.
"The referee should be making decisions and we’re passing it over to VAR, re-refereeing the game, and this is just not what people wanted when they wanted technology.
"It’s one problem after another, week after week.
"You can make a strong case for each one, and what has riled Forest is that in an important game there have been three.
"But two rights don’t make a wrong, if the referee/VAR have deemed to have made errors they will face action, one would hope, from the PGMOL.
"But coming out in the open and passing those comments is opening a dangerous can of worms."