Alan Shearer brands Nottingham Forest an 'embarrassment' in X-rated rant and makes Everton point

Alan Shearer laid into Nottingham Forest, questioning “what the f***” the club was doing, after its extraordinary statement following the loss to Everton.

Forest issued the statement on the final whistle of the defeat at Goodison Park, slamming three decisions they said “it simply cannot accept”. Club chiefs believed three legitimate penalty calls were wrongly dismissed.

The post has dominated headlines since and, with Luton Town having been hammered on Saturday, means momentum has shifted towards Everton in the battle for Premier League survival.

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Forest believe penalties should have been given for what it argues were two fouls and a handball - all by Blues full-back Ashley Young Referee Anthony Taylor waved away each claim on the pitch and VAR did not call for any of the decisions to be reviewed. Forest said the club had warned the refereeing body that the VAR, Stuart Attwell, “was a Luton fan” and had asked for him to be changed ahead of the match.

Speaking on The Rest is Football Podcast, Shearer let fly at Forest as co-hosts Gary Lineker and Micah Richards laughed in the background - all three admitting they had initially believed the club statement had been released by a parody account. While there was an acceptance Forest may have been unlucky, and that the club had endured contentious decisions across the season, the consensus was that the statement was a mistake.

Newcastle United legend Shearer, who won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, said: “Honestly, before we go anywhere, let’s just say well done to Everton. Very much like at the top of the table, at this stage of the season, it doesn’t matter how you play or what decisions you get, just get the three points, by hook or by crook. Everton got them and that’s all that matters.

“But what the f*** are Forest doing putting that statement out? It’s an absolute embarrassment, isn’t it? ‘We told the PGMOL he was a Luton fan’. What on earth are they thinking about? It’s embarrassing.

“I thought Anthony Taylor and Stuart Attwell had a terrible afternoon, but you can’t behave like that if you’re a top professional football club, one of the best, a team that has been amazing over the years, a European Cup and all of that. Then behaving like that, there’s just no class to it.

“However angry you are, however upset you are, you cannot be putting statements out like that.”