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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Matt Davies

'None of it makes sense' - Nottingham Forest VAR controversy summed up by brilliant rant

Nottingham Forest were at the centre of the VAR debate on Saturday as they drew 2-2 with Brentford.

The Reds had three penalty appeals turned down, only to see Brentford given a spot kick for a similar level of contact in the box after video assistant referee Lee Mason sent on-field referee Andrew Marriner to look at the monitor.

The issue was discussed on the latest Garibaldi Red podcast as host Matt Davies was joined by Forza Garibaldi's Greg Mitchell and a fired up Darren Fletcher. You can read part of what the broadcaster had to say below or listen to the full episode here.

READ MORE: Forest man could face FA action after Brentford controversy

READ MORE: Forest given stark Match of the Day warning as Lineker repeats criticism

GM: "The Dennis one sets the standard for how he's going to ref the game. If that's not a penalty, none of them are, it's as simple as that. If you give the Henderson one then all the others are close, well some of them are more of a penalty.

"The mistakes have been taken off the pitch and put in an office at Stockley Park. It's the same old characters that seem to be making these errors and they'll still be in the Premier League next week.

"It's not a penalty (for Brentford), it never is. There wasn't even an appeal. If that's given then there's six or seven in the league this weekend."

DF: "I agree with everything Greg said. I thought the Gibbs-White one, if any, wasn't a penalty. The Yates one was the most obvious that was a penalty.

"Forest had a shocker given against them at Wolves when Lee Mason was the VAR. Again he is VAR for this game. He's not refereeing games in the middle now but he's influencing games at Stockley Park. It's like saying to a lorry driver 'you can't drive anymore but do you want to be a driving instructor?'

"This guy can either officiate or he can't. If he can sit there and say that's a penalty then he shouldn't go to work this weekend because it's a disgrace. It's not a bad decision, it's a disgrace.

"It has to be a clear and obvious error. It's shouldn't have reached the threshold of a review. Every part of the sequence was wrong. People say you can't blame the referee, but he's gone to the screen and agreed with the guy who told him to look at it.

"If he agrees then he shouldn't be out there. I mean, come on! Come on! It's happening too often and it's happening too often to Forest this season.

"It's absolutely atrocious games are being decided like this. The decisions Lee Mason is referring to monitors this season tell me he's not fit for purpose.

"It's costing teams points and it will cost people their livelihoods. It has to be officiated better than it it is. It's disgraceful."

GM: "One thing I did like was - and if someone gets in trouble for it we should chip in to pay the fine - the replay of the penalty being shown on the big screen.

DF: Why shouldn't it?

GM: They aren't allowed to.

DF: "What's that about? People are paying fortunes to be there and the idiots who organise it say we can't show them that! You what? Without the fans there is no game. It's so idiotic not to show the replays! None of it makes sense."

What changes need to be made to VAR? Have your say in the comments section below

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