What Steve Cooper once said about Stuart Attwell while he was in charge of Nottingham Forest
24/04/2024 13:15
Nottingham Forest have taken a pop at Stuart Attwell this week and it’s fair to say that Steve Cooper probably saw this one coming.
The Reds took issue with Attwell failing to award Forest three penalties at the weekend from his role as the VAR for their clash with Everton.
Forest released a statement after their 2-0 defeat to the Toffees, questioning whether Luton fan Attwell should have been on the game.
The club’s stance was criticised by Alan Shearer and yesterday, UEFA announced that Attwell would be an English representative on VAR at Euro 2024.
It’s fair to say that the club have had previous beef with Attwell before – and Cooper felt the wrath of his catalogue of errors during his time in charge of the club.
What Steve Cooper said about Stuart Attwell when he was at Forest
Well, let’s go back to the penultimate game of the 2021/22 campaign when Forest played Bournemouth in the Championship.
The Reds knew that a win would see them second going into the final day of the campaign – with a place in the Premier League at stake.
Cooper’s side lost 1-0 and were forced to settle for the play-offs but things could – and perhaps should – have been different.
Forest saw a goal disallowed – which replays proved was incorrect – and after the game, Cooper bemoaned Attwell for his performance.
He said: “When the referee asked to see me and apologised, held his hands up, it doesn’t make it any better.
“I think he’s tried to soften me up, to be honest, because he knows he and the linesman have made a huge error.”
Attwell has endured catalogue of errors at the expense of Forest
Quite simply, Attwell has been a pretty awful referee whenever he’s done games that have involved Forest.
Earlier this season, he refereed Forest against Manchester United, sending off Joe Worrall and giving Marcus Rashford an incredibly soft penalty.
If we go way back, Attwell famously had a completely awful performance during a Forest and Derby fixture when all hell pretty much broke loose.
These comments from Cooper are very intriguing and it remains a mystery why Forest seem to keep getting an official who always seems to drop an error to the detriment of Forest.
Surely after missing three pretty conclusive penalties on Sunday, Forest have finally seen the last of Attwell being involved in their fixtures.
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