Premier League side could reportedly sue Sky Sports for Gary Neville ‘mafia’ comments in response to furious club statement

Nottingham Forest could pursue legal action against Sky Sports for Gary Neville’s ‘mafia gang’ response to the club’s scathing post match statement against Everton.

Idrissa Gueye and Dwight McNeil scored crucial long range efforts for the Toffees to settle a 2-0 victory in the battle between two struggling club’s whose season’s have been hugely affected by points deductions. 

Forest, however, were left bemused by the referee Anthony Taylor’s decision to ignore three penalty appeals, including a particularly notable hand ball call involving Ashley Young in the closing moments of the first half.

The East Midlands side took to Twitter following their defeat and sent out a strongly worded post which lambasted the VAR official Stuart Atwell’s appointment as video assistant referee for the game.

The post reads: “Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.

“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.”

Manchester United icon Gary Neville called out Forest for their statement with a strongly-worded response whilst working as a pundit for Sky Sports. He suggested that Forest’s claim was “like a mafia-gang statement”, while Jamie Carragher also compared it to something that a fan would say in a pub.

Neville said: “It’s like a mafia-gang statement. I mean, honestly, what the hell are they playing at? I think anybody and everybody would have some sympathy for Nottingham Forest over some of the decisions they've been given this season but they've grabbed defeat from victory in the way that they've handled it.”

"It's like a petulant child, it's embarrassing. Some of the things they're saying, the inferring of cheating because there's an official in VAR who's a Luton fan, is a scandal and they will pay for that. They will regret that as a football club in terms of their history and how they present themselves. They've done it very well over a long period of time, they will regret that statement."

Those comments, particularly Neville's, have not gone down well with the City Ground hierarchy. According to Mail Online, Forest’s legal team are putting a letter together for Neville’s current employers Sky regarding his comments and are considering suing the broadcaster.

Since Forest’s initial statement, the row has rolled on. The relegation-threatened club have demanded the audio from the three rejected penalty appeals to be made public.

Everton defender Young, who was at the centre of the controversy for one of the decisions, posted a story on Instagram poking fun at the fallout. He shared an image of Justin Timberlake track ‘Cry Me A River’ on social media, with the caption “old skool tunes for today”.