Nottingham Forest, manager Nuno Espirito Santo and defender Neco Williams have been charged with misconduct by the Football Association, on the same day former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg left his role with the club.
The FA has acted over Nuno and Williams’ comments following the 2-0 defeat at Everton last month, while Clattenburg has been warned about his future conduct.
The FA said: “It’s alleged that the club, manager and player’s comments constitute improper conduct in that they imply bias and/or question the integrity of the match officials and/or bring the game into disrepute.”
They have until Thursday to respond to the charge.
Forest were fuming after having three penalty decisions go against them and released an angry statement on X – seen over 45m times – just minutes after the final whistle.
The club claimed they told referees body the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) that the game’s video assistant referee (VAR) Stuart Attwell was allegedly a fan of relegation rivals Luton.
Despite the critical post on social media, BBC Sport has been told that Forest did not ask for Attwell to be replaced prior to the match.
After the game Williams told Sky Sports: “Every single week this happens now. We are getting decisions against us, I don’t know why. Is it because we are a lower, bottom half of the table team? Because I guarantee all the top six teams are getting every single one of them.
“I know every single person watching that game today knew all three of them were clear, blatant penalties. It is ridiculous. It is week after week now we are getting these decisions against us.”
Nuno said the officials had bad games while Clattenburg, in the Mail on Sunday, called the decisions a joke and said Forest were feeling victimised.
The trio were asked for their observations by the FA. Nuno confirmed on Thursday he had responded.
The Premier League also confirmed it will investigate the comments.
The news comes after Clattenburg stepped down from his role, saying his position had “become more of a hindrance than help” to the club.
Clattenburg began working with the relegation-threatened Premier League side as a referee analyst in February.
He had already been involved in a high-profile incident following the defeat by Liverpool in March and publicly criticised referee Paul Tierney after Darwin Nunez scored a late winner.
He said Forest should have been given the ball back after the match was stopped for an earlier foul, and was prevented from going into the referees’ dressing room to speak to Tierney after the game.
Following Forest’s statement after the Everton game ex-Manchester United defender and Sky Sports pundit Gary Nevill e called on Clattenburg to quit.
