He hasn’t overseen one of their games since 2024
One of the Premier League’s best known referees was subtly “kept away” from officiating matches involving one specific Premier League club over his “controversial history with the club,” according to The Athletic.
As outlined in the Athletic’s reporting, Stuart Attwell has had no involvement in any games featuring Nottingham Forest since the 21st of April 2024.
No official ban was ever issued by the Premier League or the Football Association, but rather the referee was instead “deliberately kept off” games by the league’s Professional Game Match Officials organisation.
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Today’s date (21 April) marks two years since Attwell came under fire from Forest over his role as a VAR official during a 2-0 loss for the club to Everton.
Attwell, and the VAR team in general, turned down three appeals for a penalty.
After full-time, the Midlands outfit published a now-deleted tweet that had made mention of Attwell’s status as a fan of Luton Town, one of Nottingham Forest’s main rivals for relegation during that campaign.
Part of the post read: “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.”
The Premier League club were later charged over an: “Attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale”.
While no response has yet been made by the PGMO in any formal capacity, the Athletic’s report contains quotes from sources at the organisation.
They reportedly confirmed that Attwell’s absence from the Forest matches does indeed relate to the Everton incident.
As well as not refereeing any Forest games since that match, Attwell has been kept off VAR and fourth-official duties.
That run was almost brought to an end in January, with Atwell named fourth official for Forest’s FA Cup third-round tie at Wrexham, however in the lead up to kick-off, Darren England was chosen to take his place.
It is not currently clear whether the decision to keep Stuart Atwell was taken by the PGMO, or rather by Attwell himself, hoping to avoid further conflict with the club.
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