There are so many threads to the Everton versus Nottingham Forest controversy. The aftermath has crossed the line into questions of integrity, allegiances and the use of video assistant referees (VARs).
When you start to pull at the tangled web of issues, it’s quirky to see how many are linked together. The VAR official from last weekend’s game, Stuart Attwell, and Forest’s referee analyst, Mark Clattenburg, are on separate sides of the argument — but there’s more that unites than divides them when you consider their past. Both helped pave the way for a world where officials oversee action in a video booth due to their own significant errors.
Advertisement
Attwell is haunted by one of the worst errors on record — no, nothing to do with Goodison Park — which took place in the infancy of his career. There is another fanbase, aside from Forest’s, that gets shivers down their collective spines when his name is brought up: Watford’s.
Why? Because of the ‘ghost goal’ that was awarded to visiting side Reading at Vicarage Road in September 2008.
For Forest officials and fans incredulous over three possible penalties, that was nothing. This was one of the most confusing mistakes ever made on a football pitch. Watford’s then-manager Aidy Boothroyd said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like a UFO landing, a mistake like that.”
Reading’s corner from the right on 13 minutes — unlucky for some — went into the six-yard box, the ball bounced off Watford captain John Eustace and went three to four yards wide of the near post. Reading’s Noel Hunt hooked it back into play. Andre Bikey’s header hit the crossbar and rebounded back into play.
Then the whistle blew.
Attwell signalled for a goal after advice from assistant Nigel Bannister, much to the bemusement of everyone else in the ground. Attwell and Bannister concluded that Eustace’s touch crossed the line in between rather than outside the posts. Why Reading’s Hunt would be trying to clear it from going in never seemed to come into their minds.
👻 Previously vs @ReadingFC… pic.twitter.com/NR0qxfrgg1
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) April 8, 2021
Boothroyd was sent to the stands for his protestations, Reading boss Steve Coppell offered to replay the game, but nothing came to pass. To this day, Eustace has an own goal to his name. “I understand it’s a bit embarrassing for the FA and the Football League to change their records, but look at it from my point of view: who wants a goal like that on their slate? Not me, thanks,” he said in Tales from the Vicarage: Captains.
Advertisement
“I still can’t make head nor tail of it. I don’t spend my evenings beating myself up about it or watching replays, because it’s not one of my happiest memories. But the worst part is that we still don’t really know how, or why, the officials got it so wrong.”
Similar to now, Attwell faced media scrutiny after the incident — even his parents, Martin and Jane, were asked for comment in his hometown of Nuneaton.
“He cannot comment on what happened — it is more than his job is worth,” Martin told the Sunday Mercury.
“He has been hammered in the press and it is not fair,” said Jane.
Keith Hackett — head of referees at the time — tells The Athletic: “He went abroad because there was media at his house. It was important for him to get away from it because these incidents for a young guy could be debilitating to his career.”
Attwell’s upward trajectory wasn’t affected — within 12 months, he was a Premier League referee while still in his mid-twenties — but the incident formed part of a growing body of evidence that referees needed help when obvious errors occurred.
Another involved Clattenburg at Old Trafford three years earlier. Tottenham Hotspur were denied a clear goal against Manchester United after Roy Carroll spilled a long-range effort over the line from Pedro Mendes. This wasn’t spotted by assistant Rob Lewis.
“As a result of that and the Watford incident, I stood up at the Premier League summer conference and was asked — in terms of blue-sky thinking — ‘What would I introduce into the game?’,” says Hackett. “I said ‘Goal-line technology’. We very quickly agreed to go and get it.”
Trials started soon afterwards using Hawk-Eye technology and a demonstration to the International Football Association Board (IFAB) took place at (coincidentally) Reading’s training ground.
FIFA didn’t fully get behind the plans until Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal for England against Germany at the 2010 World Cup convinced then-president Sepp Blatter of its importance. It was introduced in 2014 at the next tournament, the same year as the Premier League.
Attwell’s apparent allegiance to Luton Town was not part of the discourse when he made the error against Watford. If it had, then that would have certainly exacerbated the situation due to the rivalry between the sides.
The controversial nature of the incident meant Attwell didn’t referee another Watford match until six years later, a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road against Burnley in 2014. More recently, he oversaw two Watford games — a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the 2018-19 season and a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in 2021-22.
Advertisement
It has been a long-standing protocol in refereeing that officials outline the teams they support or any other allegiances they have at the start of each season. Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL, the body responsible for referees in English professional football, won’t confirm officials’ declarations of interest, but Attwell has never officiated a Luton match since he started his career in 2007.
According to a source at PGMOL, who didn’t want to be identified to protect relationships, Clattenburg made contact with referees’ chief Howard Webb on Friday — before Sunday’s game at Goodison Park — and suggested that Nuno Espirito Santo may be asked by the media about the appointment due to his link with Luton. The source also suggested that Clattenburg didn’t ask for the appointment to be changed or that they had a problem with Attwell’s involvement as VAR.
“I’m assured by two referees that I know well, who are quite adamant that they were aware that Attwell was a Luton supporter, and one of them said (his appointment to the Everton vs Forest match) was a joke,” says Hackett. “More transparency and honesty in the scenario would help. If that is the case then it makes sense for him to be completely out of the firing line.”
Forest’s post-match comments highlighting Attwell’s apparent allegiance have led to investigations being opened by the Premier League and FA. It is a topic that Clattenburg is familiar with too — he wasn’t allowed to referee a match involving Newcastle United or their rivals Sunderland to avoid a conflict of interest.
This is a well-trodden path. Another former Premier League referee, Mike Dean, was initially awarded the FA Cup final in 2006, but due to him living on the Wirral close to Liverpool — who won their semi-final — he was removed to avoid any issues of impartiality.
“Why do the Premier League continue to operate something that was in place when I was in charge? Because we don’t want referees put in difficult positions,” says Hackett. “Especially now that there are greater demands than in the past and every moment is so heavily scrutinised.”
Attwell returned to Premier League refereeing for Wolves’ 1-0 home defeat against Bournemouth on Wednesday and was greeted with chants of “Premier League, corrupt as f**k,” “Stuart Attwell, you’re a w****r,” and “Nuno’s right, Attwell’s s***e.”
Advertisement
The loyalty of Wolves fans to their former manager who is now at Forest may have had something to do with the vociferousness of the reception he received, but it was a reminder that fans can be unforgiving.
It’s been 16 years since the ‘ghost goal’, a moment Watford fans will never forget. Attwell will hope this storm does not cast such a long shadow.
(Top photo: Ian Walton/Getty Images)